America’s Elementary Schools Recycled Enough Aluminum to Build an Entire Boeing 737! That’s Only the Beginning!
Now in its third year, the Million Cans Recycling Contest mobilized 56 schools across 14 states to recycle more than 3 million aluminum cans keeping more 87,000 pounds of aluminum out of landfills. The Recycling Society and Can Manufacturers Institute announced the contest winners, along with expanded plans for the 2026–27 school year.
BELLINGHAM, WA, May 15, 2026 – Elementary school students across 14 states recycled more than 3 million aluminum beverage cans during the 2025-2026 Million Cans Recycling Contest, collectively diverting enough aluminum from landfills to build the airframe of a Boeing 737.
Cumulatively across three contest years, students have now recycled more than 6.5 million cans, turning what began as a grassroots classroom challenge into one of the country’s most measurable, youth-led recycling programs in the United States.
The contest is led by The Recycling Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, in partnership with the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) and other beverage can industry partners, driving sustainable aluminum packaging. The 2025–26 cycle is the program’s first year operating under nonprofit governance, a structural step taken to scale corporate partnerships, expand school participation, and open tax-deductible giving for donors.
Contest Built to Scale
The Million Cans Recycling Contest was founded by Jessica Alexanderson and has grown from eight schools in seven states in its inaugural year (2023-24) to 56 schools across 14 states this year. With the program now fully under The Recycling Society’s leadership, 2026–27 marks the start of a national expansion, purpose-built to onboard new corporate sponsors, deepen CMI member engagement, and bring measurable, classroom-led recycling education to underserved school districts across the country.“What I especially love is teaching kids that recycling is a tangible action that can work to protect and strengthen our communities and the environment around us, including wildlife and sea creatures. These elementary students in 14 states recycled more than 3 million cans this year and raised approximately $56,000 for their schools. They aren’t just collecting cans, they’re changing behaviors in their communities and becoming real-life recycling superheroes. We couldn’t be more proud,” said Jessica “Scuba Jess” Alexanderson, Executive Director, The Recycling Society and co-author of The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans.
Recycling Delivers Measurable Results
The 2025–26 contest results drove measurable results for schools, local communities, and the environment:- More than 6 million aluminum cans collected since the contest first started, weighing approximately 188,000 pounds, equivalent to the airframe weight of a commercial Boeing 737 aircraft.
- Energy savings equivalent to charging an estimated 36 million smartphones. Aluminum recycling is 95% less carbon-intensive than primary production.¹
- Approximately $56,000 in direct funding raised by and donated back to participating schools at market scrap rates, channeled directly to classroom resources and school programs.
- 4,979 books were donated and over 21,734 elementary students engaged across 14 states in hands-on recycling, so they can learn about the circular economy in action.
- From bin to can in 60 days or less – that’s the time it takes for a recycled can to become a new can. Recycling is fast and efficient for used aluminum beverage cans.²
How the Contest Works
The Million Cans Recycling Contest pairs each participating school with industry partners: a local scrap yard partner that supplies collection infrastructure and pays the school the prevailing market rate for every pound of aluminum collected, and a CMI-member “Can Champion” or other sponsor provides classroom visits, milestone prize incentives, and educational resources.
This year’s Can Champions included: Aluminum Dynamics, Ardagh Metal Packaging, The Ball Foundation, CANPACK, Constellium, Crown Holdings, Envases, GlobalGiving, Kaiser Aluminum, Logan Aluminum, M2 Innovation, Metals Agency, Novelis, PPG Industries, Sennebogen, Sherwin-Williams, and Tri-Arrows Aluminum Inc.
“Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) members teamed up with schools across the country for a third consecutive year to demonstrate the value of recycling used aluminum beverage cans,” said Roxanne Sharif, Director of Sustainability at CMI. “This recycling program is proof that there are meaningful and effective ways to engage young learners in hands-on recycling practices while delivering valuable funding to support their schools. Since 97% of recycled cans become new cans, we’re excited to take the aluminum these recycling superheroes kept in the recycling system and make it part of new cans.”
Recycling Superheros in Action: 2025-26 Contest Highlights
- Every participating student in a selected grade received a free copy of The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans, the book that inspired the program, courtesy of Recycling Society donors.
- The 56 participating schools are located in: Alabama (1), Arizona (3), Colorado (1), Florida (4), Illinois (3), Indiana (4), Kentucky (24), Louisiana (1), Mississippi (4), Missouri (2), Pennsylvania (4), Texas (2), Washington (2), and West Virginia (1).
“Participating in the Million Cans Recycling Contest has really brought the community together and made a huge impact on both the school and the community. We have cans being collected in places where recycling wasn’t previously an option, and kids now go out into their community to make it a cleaner place.” – Samantha Palmieri, Oriole Beach Elementary, Gulf Breeze, FL.
“Our third grade students went into other classrooms to read stories and educate other students about the importance of recycling. Our music teacher led an entire unit with third graders to create songs about recycling using recycled materials as instruments. We have truly taken recycling and embedded it into our school and community in so many ways. We have had several groups collecting outside of school hours and even set up a collection bin inside our local Kroger and we were featured in our local newspaper. Thanks to everyone in our town who helped Mt. Washington recycle 288,400 cans, the most cans overall in the contest.” – Julie Adams, Mt. Washington Elementary, near Louisville, KY.
“For our kids, this contest wasn’t about winning. It was about making the world better, one can, and one person at a time.” – Chely Gregory, 3rd Grade Teacher, Lewisburg Elementary School in Lewisburg, KY.
“There are a lot of recycling programs in America. Very few of them can hand a CFO a per-pound impact number, a per-school engagement number, and a per-dollar return number. This one can.” – Andrew Hyde, President, The Recycling Society
🥇 1st Place — Fairplain Elementary (WV) recycled 160,790 cans, averaging an incredible 8,040 cans per student.
🥈 2nd Place — Mendon Elementary (PA) recycled 184,275 cans, with an impressive 6,143 cans per student.
🥉 3rd Place — Tri County Primary (IN) recycled 235,200 cans, averaging 3,856 cans per student.
🏆 Honorable Mention — Mt. Washington Elementary (KY) recycled an amazing 288,400 cans, the highest overall can total in the entire contest, averaging 3,204 cans per student.
The rankings are based on a cans-per-student basis. Congratulations to all the schools for their incredible teamwork and community support!
Looking Ahead: 2026-27 Expansion
Building on three years of measurable program growth, The Recycling Society is opening the 2026-27 Million Cans Recycling Contest to a target of 75+ schools in non-deposit states, with priority enrollment for Title I schools and underserved districts. Corporate sponsors interested in becoming a Can Champion or contributing to the program’s national expansion can contact Jessica Alexanderson at jess@recyclingsociety.org. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, contributions to The Recycling Society are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.Schools, scrap yards, and industry partners interested in participating can inquire by emailing info@recyclingsociety.org. Registration for the 2026-27 contest opens July 13th, 2026.
Follow the contest at RecyclingSociety.org and on social media using the hashtag #MillionCans.
About The Recycling Society:
The Recycling Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded on Earth Day 2025 with a mission to teach children that all metal has value and can be recycled. The Society partners with schools, scrap yards, and the metal recycling industry to build lifelong recycling habits in students and their communities. Through hands-on programs like the Million Cans Recycling Contest and grade-level books including The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans, A Recycling Adventure to the Scrapyard, and A Recycling Adventure to the Steel Mill, the Society is building the country’s most measurable youth-led recycling pipeline. Learn more at recyclingsociety.org.
About the Can Manufacturers Institute:
Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) is the national trade association of the U.S. metal can manufacturing industry and its suppliers. U.S. metal can manufacturers account for the annual domestic production of approximately 142 billion food, beverage, aerosol, and general line cans; employ more than 20,000 people with facilities in 32 states; and generate about $27.5 billion in direct economic activity. Learn more at: cancentral.com
Can Manufacturers Institute Media Contact:Tim Ebner, Vice President, Communications & Marketing, Can Manufacturers Institute tebner@cancentral.com
Recycling Society Media Contact: Jessica Alexanderson, Executive Director, The Recycling Society jess@recyclingsociety.org
¹ Aluminium Beverage Can Recycling Impact Calculator (canrecyclingimpact.com), citing CMI: aluminum recycling uses 95% less energy than primary aluminum production. ² CMI: a recycled aluminum can returns in less than 60 days. ³ Impact metrics for the 2025–26 contest year were calculated using the Aluminium Beverage Can Recycling Impact Calculator, which converts can-count inputs into standardized energy, carbon, and economic equivalencies based on Aluminum Association and EPA WARM factors.
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