Abstract: An automatic can crushing machine, preferably used for compressing standard aluminum 12 ounce beverage cans, is constructed of a housing having an angularly inclined feed chute for receiving a supply stack of cans to be crushed therein and an adjacent, parallel-arranged crushing station in which a piston reciprocates back and forth to crush the cans one at a time delivered from the feed chute. The feed chute is adapted to contain a serial stack of spent cans which are disposed, under the influence of gravity, to pass downward in the chute toward an ejection end. An ejector mechanism in the form of a plunger passes transversely through the ejection end of the chute to force a can about to be crushed through a delivery opening covered by a flap valve for deposit into a trough mounted in the crushing station. A crushing piston reciprocates within the trough. Movement of the crushing piston along the trough longitudinally compresses the can to approximately one-eighth of its original length over an outlet gap.