[throwaway2048]

collisions can easily push things into higher orbits.

[aidenn0]

I'm not a rocket scientist, but this seems unlikely; sure two large satellites colliding could create smaller debris with a much higher apogee, but it seems to me that the perigee would not increase, so it would still spend a significant fraction of its orbit in atmospheric drag.

[throwaway2048]

but could easily collide with something at apogee, especially if the collision lead to a cascading style kessler syndrome event.