Thursday, February 9, 2012

Tonight on Good Question, a viewer has noticed several aluminum can recycling centers around Wichita. Most say something about helping homeless animals.

He wants to know where the money from the recycled cans is going and just how much is a crushed aluminum can is worth these days. Good question.

You may have noticed aluminum can drop sites like these spread across Wichita. They say, “Aluminum cans for Humane Society.” There are 17 of these collection bins.

Jennifer Campbell of the Kansas Humane Society told me that the money collected from the recycling cans goes toward the day-to-day operations of the KHS, things like food, surgeries and general bills. She also told me that the can collection has been a huge success for the Humane Society. In fact, it’s become one of the main fund-raising generators.

The bins are checked weekly, and on an average year, they generate about $70,000. So, what’s a can worth these days?

I checked with a local recycling company. I was told the price for a pound of crushed aluminum cans in 60 cents. It takes about 30 cans to make a pound, so one crushed can is worth about 2 cents. If the Humane Society earns about $70,000 per year, that’s almost 120,000 pounds or 3.5 million aluminum cans.

If you have a good question, send it to me at news@kake.com. I’ll do my best to answer your good question every Thursday on KAKE News at 6.