---------------------------- Seeing as how folks were bound and determined to collect pull-tabs for charity, in 1987 McDonald's found it a good idea to get into the act. Their Pop Tab Collection program is a response to pull tab mania, and although its web presence perpetuates the myth that the tabs are made of a purer form of aluminium than the rest of the can, it at least provides folks with a place to dump the tabs they've been hoarding over the years in the belief they could use them to purchase dialysis time for an ailing child. Tabs dropped off at various McDonald's are taken to a local recycling company, and the money made from selling them for their scrap value is given to the local Ronald McDonald House to help defray operating costs.
(Ronald McDonald houses are inexpensive family lodgings located near hospitals. Families of sick children stay there so as to be close to their hospitalized child. Typically, it costs the house $40 a night a room to operate and families are asked to make a donation of $10 a night when they stay. The shortfall is made up through various charitable endeavors, of which the pull-tab collection and recycling program is but one.)
It needs be stressed yet again that pull tabs are far from "found money" — even the Ronald McDonald House gets only 40 cents a pound for them (or $474 per million tabs, according to their web page). You'd still do far more good organizing a local soda can recycling program and donating the proceeds of same to Ronald McDonald House (or any other charity). --------------------------------------
So, honestly sorcha... collect 'em, and the folks -I- know will buy 'em off ya!