Convertible club, Red Hat Society donate pop tops

The Inland Empire Convertible Club and the Ladies of the Red Hat Society in Spokane Valley have collected 500,000 pop tops – the little aluminum pull tabs from pop cans – and they are donating them to Spokane’s Ronald McDonald House on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Bud Dohler, a member of the Inland Empire Convertible Club for the last 28 years, said they first collected and donated pop tops about five years ago.

“We had 200,000 back then,” said Dohler. “And then we got the Red Hat Ladies involved and we just continued to save them.”

The Inland Empire Convertible Club has about 75 members and it’s been around since the day Mount St. Helens blew: May 18, 1980.

“Any convertible is welcome,” said Dohler. “Actually, as long as you have a desire for a convertible you are welcome to join us.”

Dohler keeps track of the tops by borrowing an electronic counter from his work place. It has taken the club two years to collect 500,000 pop tops. However, Dohler has never asked Ronald McDonald House how much money the pop tops actually bring in.

“I guess we just never thought of that,” Dohler said.

Many urban myths are associated with pop tops, including that they are made from special high grade aluminum.

Local recycling centers confirm that pop tops are made of exactly the same type of aluminum as the can they are attached to. About 31 cans equal one pound of aluminum, and that pound is worth between 35 and 45 cents depending on the market. It takes an estimated 1,267 pop tops to reach one pound, making this donation of 500,000 pop tops worth an estimated $160.

The National Kidney Foundation has battled a rumor that pop tops could be used as payment for dialysis treatments for decades – they can’t. Cancer organizations have battled a persistent myth that pop tops could be used to pay for chemo treatments – they can’t.

They can, however, be recycled like any other aluminum product and they are lovingly collected by lots of people.

“It’s just something we have always done at our meetings,” said Dohler. “People bring them in by the sack full. I guess they are easier to keep than the whole can and they don’t get so messy.”

Ronald McDonald House and Shriners Hospitals for Children are two area charities that accept pop tops as donations.

Kathie Vlahovich, development director for the Ronald McDonald House, said they’ve received pop top donations for years.

“We take them to Spokane Recycling and we get paid by the pound,” Vlahovich said. “Every year we get $3,000 to $4,000 from people collecting pop tops.”