Every dollar contributed directly helps us empower more children, recycle more cans, and make a greater positive impact on our planet by changing behaviors and increasing recycling rates.
The Million Cans Recycling Contest is a nationwide competition that challenges elementary schools to collect and recycle aluminum cans. Students learn the environmental and economic value of recycling, turning classroom lessons into real-world impact.
Many states don’t have deposit return systems for beverage containers, which means fewer cans are recycled. Our program fills this gap by giving kids and schools in these states the tools and motivation to recycle and protect our planet.
Donations help schools set up recycling programs, inspire community involvement, and keep valuable aluminum out of landfills. Schools keep the money earned from recycling cans, which they often use for educational programs or school improvements.
Your gift provides the tools and incentives that make recycling a fun, rewarding, and lifelong habit for students.
"This program didn't just teach my students about recycling; it made them passionate about it. The bonus we received helped us buy new books for our library." - 3rd Grade Teacher
Your donations help us celebrate recycling success with:
🍕 Pizza parties for classes that recycle 75,000 cans
🍨 Ice Cream Parties
📚 A copy of The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans for every 2nd or 3rd-grade students
🦸♂️ Superhero capes for Can Captains leading the charge
💰 Cash bonuses for top schools to spend on books, technology, or school programs
📣 Advertising support so schools can promote their recycling drives and engage their whole town
We provide educational recycling story books, recycling tips, classroom posters, and hands-on activities that make recycling fun and easy to understand. Our goal is to spark lifelong recycling habits and environmental responsibility.
You can help by spreading the word, encouraging your local schools to participate, saving your aluminum cans, or becoming a corporate or community sponsor. Every action helps inspire the next generation of recycling heroes.
You can help by:
Saving and donating your aluminum cans to a participating school.
Spreading the word in your community.
Donating to the Recycling Society nonprofit to help grow the contest nationwide: recyclingsociety.org/donate
Scrapyard Delivers the Bin:
At the end of September, your local scrapyard will drop off a roll-off bin or a secure can trailer in your school’s parking lot.
Fill It with Aluminum Cans:
Start collecting empty aluminum cans—crushed or uncrushed—and fill up your bin. Every can counts toward your school’s total!
Schedule a Pickup:
When the bin is nearly full, contact your scrapyard. They’ll come pick it up, empty the cans, and send Recycling Is Like Magic a copy of the weight ticket from the scale.
Leaderboard Update:
We’ll use that scale ticket to update the contest leaderboard. Keep checking to see how your school stacks up against the competition!
➡️ Fun Fact: About 35 aluminum cans equals one pound.
Winning the Recycling Is Like Magic Contest is all about teamwork! The more people in your community who save cans for your school, the bigger your impact—and your totals on the leaderboard.
To help your school spread the word, each school gets $200 to use for:
Printing posters and signs to hang around campus and town
Creating banners to mark your can drop-off area
Running a small online ad, boosting a Facebook post, or printing flyers
Tip: The more signs you hang and the more you post on your school website, in newsletters, and on social media, the more cans you’ll collect! Visibility is key.
Visit places in your community where people work and gather:
Grocery stores & post offices
Coffee shops, hardware stores, and gas stations
Local restaurants, bars, and breweries
Sporting venues, arenas, and concert halls
Hotels, manufacturing plants, and warehouses
Ask if their staff will save empty aluminum cans for your school. Most people are happy to help when they know it's for local students!
Reach out to:
Boys & Girls Clubs
Youth sports teams and leagues
Scout troops and church groups
Rotary Clubs and Kiwanis Clubs
Schools, daycares, and community centers
Give them a roll of trash bags to collect cans.
Share a fun poster they can hang in their break room to spread the word.
✅ Explain how the contest works.
✅ Show how the cans support your school.
✅ Make recycling fun and easy to understand.
"Hi, our school is part of the Million Cans Recycling Contest. We’re teaching kids about recycling and helping the planet. Would your business save aluminum cans for our school? We’ll give you trash bags and a poster to make it easy. Every can supports our students!"
Encourage your whole town to pitch in. Together, you’ll recycle tons of cans, help your school, and make your community greener.
Aluminum cans are 100% recyclable—forever. They never lose quality no matter how many times they’re recycled.
Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to power a TV for 3 hours.
It takes just 60 days for a recycled aluminum can to return to store shelves as a brand-new can.
Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy it takes to make new aluminum from raw materials.
Making new cans from recycled aluminum reduces greenhouse gas emissions significantly, helping fight climate change.
Aluminum can be recycled over and over again, unlike some materials that break down after one or two uses.
In the U.S., over 100 billion aluminum cans are sold each year, but only about half are recycled. Let’s change that!
One pound of aluminum = about 35 empty cans.
Aluminum cans are the most valuable item in your recycling bin and help fund recycling programs.
Aluminum can recycling helps raise money for school programs and environmental education.
Teaching kids to recycle cans creates lifelong habits that protect our planet.
They’re showing the whole school how to make a difference for our planet—one can at a time.
📖 Sharing the Story
Each 2nd or 3rd grade class will read The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans to the younger grades so that every student hears how recycling can change the world.
🦸♀️ Can Captains & Superhero Capes
Each class will choose two Can Captains, who will proudly wear their Recycling Superhero Capes on can collection days.
On Can Day each week, the 2nd or 3rd grade Recycling Superheroes will help collect all the cans from classrooms and bring them to the main recycling bin.
A teacher or staff member will place the cans into the large outdoor bin.
🏡 Be a Recycling Hero at Home Too!
Superheroes don’t stop at school! 2nd or 3rd graders will help spread the word at home and in the community.
Kids can decorate old cardboard boxes to create their own recycling bins at home, collecting cans to bring back to school each week.
Help your whole family take the Can Recycling Pledge and join the mission to recycle more!
🎉 Special Challenge for 2nd or 3rd Grade
In October, the 2nd or 3rd grade leaders will count their cans and track how many they’ve collected.
If they reach their school’s goal milestone, they’ll earn a fun reward:
🎂 An Ice Cream Party in November!
🌟 Recycling Superheroes Make a Difference
Thank you to all our 2nd and 3rd graders for leading the way and inspiring your school and community to recycle and protect our planet!
Each 2nd or 3rd grade student will receive a free copy of The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans, available in English or Spanish, so every child can enjoy the story in the language they use at home.
3rd graders will read the book aloud to other classes, helping younger students understand how recycling cans makes a difference for their school and the planet.
After reading at school, students will take their copy home to share with their family and friends, inspiring recycling habits at home and in their neighborhood.
This story helps every 3rd grader become a recycling superhero—leading by example and showing their community that small actions add up to big change.
The Recycling Is Like Magic Contest isn’t just about collecting cans—it’s about learning, leading, and having fun along the way!
Every can your school recycles is weighed and sold to the scrapyard. Your school keeps 100% of the money from your cans to use for school projects, supplies, field trips, or celebrations.
Students learn what happens to cans after they’re recycled and why protecting our planet matters. From reducing waste to conserving energy, your school is making a real impact.
Throughout the contest, celebrate your progress with:
School-wide announcements and leaderboard updates
Can collection parties or spirit days
Special rewards when you reach your goals
Fun assemblies to recognize your recycling superheroes
Recycling brings your school and community together to help the planet—and have a blast doing it!
