Can you recycle pizza boxes?
Recycling them works well. A pizza box consists normally of corrugated paper that is recyclable. Many pizza containers, however, contain food debris stuck to them as well as some grease.
This prevents paper fiber binding during recycling and leads to poorly produced paper products. The same happens to paper plates used in the recycling process.
When recyclable material comes into contact with pizza grease then the entire package must be dumped in the landfill causing terrible impacts on the environment.
Are pizza boxes filling up your trash?
Pizzas can be good to eat and are easily accessible, which doesn’t surprise many consumers.
Also coming as no surprise is that more than three billion pizzas are sold a year.
According to the USDA, 14% of male pizza consumers consume pizza daily.
Pizza boxes can also be very harmful in areas in which high rates of youth live such as university campuses.
Can I put pizza boxes into the recycling?
The simple answer is yes, but with caveats. For example, you would need to check at your local recycling center if they would accept pizza boxes being put into the recycling bin.
You also need to avoid putting greasy pizza boxes, or indeed any other corrugated cardboard containers with food scraps or leftover food in them, into the recycling bin.
Most recycling centers, however, will accept your used pizza box as long as they are clean and do not contain any food residue which will contaminate the corrugated cardboard of your used pizza boxes.
Are pizza boxes compostable or recyclable?
When we think of pizza boxes we think of cardboard so our natural reaction is to think we can recycle pizza boxes but it still comes down to the cleanliness of said items.
If you have a greasy pizza box or greasy cardboard from a packaging insert then the cardboard generally will be no longer recyclable.
The good news is that even if your local recycling center will not accept your greasy pizza boxes then your compost bin will!
Can you put pizza boxes in the compost?
As hinted at above, yes you can! Used pizza boxes are a prime candidate to be recycled, but be mindful of the fact that some of the food residues may be meat or cheese based which could attract flies and maggots.
Removing as much of the leftover food from your pizza boxes is a good idea to minimize this event but if you really can’t then you must throw your box into the garbage, headed for your local landfill.
Like other materials which are organic in nature, vegetable waste, and other foodstuffs, cardboard will work well in your compost bin and will reduce your recycling allowing you to use that space for other recyclables instead.
Keeping used pizza boxes out of the recycling stream will free up space in recycling centers and their sorting machines for more important recyclables like plastics, glass, and metal.
What can you do with old pizza boxes?
When it comes to pizza box recycling the first thing you need to do is make sure all of the cardboard is clean and free from food stains, food scraps like melted cheese, and grease. If not then toss them into the compost bin or if you don’t have one then into the trash.
If you manage to keep some boxes away from the trash then you are good to go.
Corrugated cardboard is strong and can be recycled into many things. If you sell things online or know someone who does then this can be a cheap shopping material that will save you a pile of cash and for you to avoid throwing your hard earned cash on new cardboard.
Just make sure you wash or at least get the smell out of the cardboard if present so you don’t put off your customers.
A pizza box can also be cut and glued together to make lots of interesting stuff. You can get really strong material from 3-5 layers of cardboard stuck together with glue. You can use these strong sheets to make gaming materials or art projects your customers will love.
How are pizza boxes recycled?
Pizza box recycling is easy if you want to do it from home. Before you even begin you need to take care of your pizza while it’s in its box, keeping it level, so the box remains clean enough to recycle. Once you have enough clean boxes and have sent your dirty, contaminated boxes to the landfills then you are ready to begin.
Flattening the boxes will make it easier to recycle as many of them can be stacked and tied into bundles ready for recycling.
The boxes will be sent from the recycling facilities for recycling to nearby paper mills or companies that specialize in processing paper and cardboard. These businesses will then pulp the cardboard and any other similar paper materials and then turn them into new cardboard sheets ready for reuse.
