Pin It
MNN.COM›Lifestyle›

Recycling

Why can't I recycle pizza boxes?

Turns out that food is one of the worst contaminants in the paper recycling process.

By Vanessa VadimFri, Apr 03 2009 at 8:01 PM EST
 5

Dear Vanessa,
 
Why am I not supposed to recycle paper products with food still on them, like food-stained pizza boxes? Isn't it still better than just throwing them away? 
 
— Concerned (but hungry) in Vermont 
 
Dear Concerned,
 
Very glad you asked. 
 
Turns out the self-proclaimed environmental-know-it-all has been contaminating the recycling stream. 
 
My city — like many by now — has adopted a "single stream" collection system, meaning that recyclables need no longer be sorted into separate bins (glass, paper, plastic). It all gets dumped together in the collection truck and sorted out on site. So, I figured, better to err on the side of green and put everything in the bin rather than throw away something potentially recyclable. It'll all get sorted anyway, right? Oops.
 
Food, it turns out, is one of the worst contaminants in the paper recycling process. Paper to be recycled likely sits around for a while, and remnants will begin to biodegrade the paper. OK if it's in your compost, but not for the recycling market. Whole batches of otherwise recyclable paper end up in the landfill because of spoilage due to food. Other relatively small intruders — wet paper, adhesives, wax or plastic coated paper — can also land big batches of paper in the landfill. Phoenix spends nearly $1 million a year dealing with these offending materials (no, no, not those offending materials. Those can be recycled). Adhesives alone cost the paper recycling industry an estimated $700 million per year. Damn.
 
So better to leave the food covered paper out of the bin; you'll be allowing more to be recycled in the long run. 
 
Keep your recycling questions coming. I'm curious to know how else I've been amiss!
 
Keep it green,
 
Vanessa
 
Recycling help
Not sure what can be recycled or where? Go to EARTH911.com and enter your ZIP code along with whatever you want to recycle. You’ll find all the what and where of recycling in your area. Very handy for those hazardous or hard-to-recycle items. But wait, there's more! 
 
• You can always tear out the oily, cheesy parts of the pizza box and recycle the rest of the box. Don't stop there: Even the oily, cheesy part of your pizza box need not fill the landfill.
• Compost it. If you compost at home, throw it in the pile (smaller, torn pieces, will decompose faster). If not, add it into the "yard trimmings" bin and it will be composted at the municipal level.
• That goes for paper towels and napkins, too. And toilet paper rolls. And tissue. And food scraps.

 

Good to know:
• Paper can be recycled up to seven times, and is easier and cheaper to make pulp out of than wood.
• Because they will separate easily enough in processing, don't sweat over things like paper clips, small plastic envelope windows, staples and metal envelope latches.
• Peel and stick adhesives can ruin an entire roll of recycled paper. Get those "complimentary" address labels and other stickers out before you toss the junk mail. Same goes for sticky-notes.
• Don't shred paper unless you really need to. Most recyclers won't accept shredded paper.
 
 
Pressure sensitive adhesives – PSAs – are a contaminant in the recycling process. Get those sticky notes off before you recycle. Stamp adhesive is fine; we’re talking about the peel 'n' stick kind of stuff. Check out Pressure-Sensitive Adhesives: A Sticky Recycling Problem.
 
Wet paper tends to get moldy and fall apart, making a mess of other paper and recyclables. Also, many recyclers buy raw material by weight; if they see wet — read heavy — paper they may reject the whole batch. Watch the weather; if it looks like rain, wait ‘til morning to put out the papers.
 
Tom Friberg, "Cost Impacts of Stickies," Progress in Paper Recycling, November 1996.
 
Photo: Jupiterimages 
 
You might also like:
Related Topics: Ask Vanessa, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Comments

Follow this conversation
Add your comment
View:

anonymous
karin 06/01/2011 12:50 PM

Hi Vanessa,
I keep tearing stamps off of things since they are peel and stick most of the time and I don't want to mess up the load. Am I just wasting my time? I really thought they were just like post-its... Thanks for the good info. Never felt sure why it was a problem and always ripped off the clean parts. Do you know if a completely dry book with a touch of mold or mildew ruins a load, too? Thanks in any case

pfiddle
pfiddle 01/23/2011 11:43 AM

I agree with Daisy. Sort things out at the beginning - th rest is easy.
Actually we never recycle paper especially the pizza-box variety. We leave it all in a big tub of rain-water in the open and when we've enough we make a paper maché and form it into 'bricks' using a paper-briquette-maker. I leave these somewhere to dry out - TIP in Summer they'll dry well in a glasshouse and keep the plants moistured I've an old iron rack I set 'em on to let the wind at them. Usually.
I put 2 or.... More

anonymous
Boogie Persons 03/25/2010 13:08 PM

Pizza boxes have excess crumbs of food on them so when they soak paper and cardboard in water food will be mixed with that!!!!!!!! ewwwwwwwwww nastyyyyyy!

anonymous
Daisy 09/19/2009 17:53 PM

I separate the food-damaged part of the box. The clean pieces get recycled; the soiled pieces get soaked for a few hours, torn into strips, and buried in the compost bin.

anonymous
Jo 09/12/2009 15:53 PM

Just this week, I, Mother Earths' Assistant, gave a lecture to my hubby about why we CAN recycle pizza boxes. He, having been beaten with facts and figures for years, told me that he didn't think so, there wasn't a triangle with a number in it on the bottom of the box (how cute). I prevailed and off went the three pizza boxes from a Friday night get together.....It makes sense why we shouldn't, but I'm having a hard time thinking that they're winding up in land fills...wow....

Add your comment

Sign in with one of these accounts or just add your comment below.
Used only for emailed comments and will not be displayed with your post
Notify me with an email when other people comment on this article.
The posting of advertisement, profanity or personal attacks is prohibited.
Click here to review our Terms of Use

EDITORS' PICKS

tease to asteroids

tease to pet facials

tease to emotional eating

ADVERTISEMENT

MNN'S ADVICE TEAM

Matt Hickman (Mondays)
Eco-friendly blogger.
Morieka Johnson (Wednesdays)
Beauty and pets aficionado.
Chanie Kirschner (Fridays)
Smart and funny maven. 
Best of MNN
Some of our favorite Q&As.
Vanessa Vadim
Eco-activist and consultant.
Lazy Environmentalist 
Author and television host.

ADVERTISEMENT