Generous Kid Sets a World Record
A 10-year-old from Canada just earned a world record for collecting the most aluminum can tabs for recycling in one year. Jace Weber of Ontario said record setting wasn’t his goal. He just wanted to raise money for charity.
Jace got the idea to start collecting tabs after watching a YouTube video about a man who had done this. Jace learned that the March of Dimes, an organization that helps newborn babies and their mothers as well as people with disabilities, has a can tab program. Metal tabs from cans of soda and other drinks can be recycled for money, which the March of Dimes will gratefully accept as a donation. Jace began putting away used can tabs from around his home.
Pretty soon, others heard about Jace’s collection and began giving their can tabs to him.
“There were always tabs sitting at our doorstep,” Jace’s dad, Curtis, told CTV News. “Every day when we’d come home, there would be more.”
In August 2023, after collecting tabs for one year, Jace and his parents took them to a recycling facility. A representative from the March of Dimes met them there, and everyone watched as the tabs were weighed. The total weight was 3,648 pounds (1,655 kilograms), about as much as a car! Jace received $2,553 in Canadian dollars ($1,891 in U.S. dollars), which he then gave to the March of Dimes. It was the largest donation the can tab program has ever received.
Jace had collected so many tabs that his parents thought he might have set a world record. They contacted Guinness World Records, which made Jace’s record official in March 2024.
“When I first saw the Guinness World Records symbol, I thought it was just a dream,” Jace told WAFB News. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. To this day, I still can’t believe it.”
Jace is collecting more can tabs, though he’s not really focused on setting another record. He’ll donate the money to help pay for a new school playground.
