Patent ID: 7444931

Claim:
A method of maximally crushing and picking up used beverage cans laying on the ground, the method comprising the steps of: providing a can crushing and pickup device comprises a housing having an open bottom, a rectangular opening formed in a bottom portion of a sidewall of the housing, a knife edged concaved indent formed on a bottom edge of the housing, a foam, rubber or semi-rigid collapsible material band is positioned inside the housing and adjacent to the bottom edge, a sliding weight and a ram rod movable inside the housing, a handle attached to an end of the ram rod, and an ejector rod passes through an interior of the handle, the ram rod, and the weight; placing the concaved indent on a lip of a can laying on its side to snap the can to an inverted upright position through the opening and into the housing; retaining the can in the housing by the band; crushing the can in the housing the sliding weight thereby expelling interior debris; holding the crushed can between the sliding weight and the band while the device is raised; inserting the device with the crushed can retained therein into a collection receptacle; and expelling the crushed can from the device by using the ejector rod to force the crushed can through the band, which remove additional debris.