In order to get any use out of the soup in the can however, the can must be at least partially destroyed, or changed from its original nature as a hermetically sealed container of soup.

Actually, our hungry shopper bought both the can and the soup with plans to consume both.  He consumes the can externally, by disrupting its hermetic seal and storage utility in order to remove the soup, which he then heats and consumes internally by eating it.

Once the can is disposed of, it is ultimately transported to a dump where it is completely discarded, becoming unowned.  (We will for the moment disregard the ownership of the landfill or dump operator, for purposes of our illustration here.)

While less prevalent today with the rise of managed landfill operations (at least in the United States and most industrialized countries), there were at one time and still exist in many parts of the world, refuse heaps that are the habitat of individuals who scavange the discarded piles in search of property to own, either for their own purposes, or to sell.

Such acquired ownership of discarded items is generally not challenged, and certainly not by the previous owner who had the item hauled away, or deposited it at the dump himself.