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 8 schools in 7 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.
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 percent 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 years’ Can Champions included: Aluminum Dynamics, Ardagh Metal Packaging, Ball Corporation, CANPACK, Constellium, Crown Holdings, Envases, Kaiser Aluminum, Logan Aluminum, M2 Innovation, Metals Agency, Novelis, PPG Industries, Sennebogen, Sherwin-Williams, and Tri-Arrows Aluminum Inc.
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, Florida.
Published May 2026
