Paper & Packaging Board Recognizes 'Powerhouse States' For Pizza Box Recycling Football fans will have eaten nearly 13 million pizzas during the Big Game in February, but the big winners are the areas that make it easy for fans to recycle those pizza boxes. According to a Paper and Packaging Board (P+PB) analysis produced by Resource Recycling Systems, 10 states and the District of Columbia shine as pizza box powerhouses where at least 90 percent of residents can recycle their pizza boxes. “Although a majority of communities accept corrugated pizza boxes for recycling, there’s been a lot of consumer confusion,” explained Mary Anne Hansan, President of P+PB. “This massive pizza eating occasion is a great time to clarify that pizza boxes are made to be recycled, but you should check your local guidelines to see if they take them.”
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The new analysis produced for P+PB’s How Life Unfolds campaign in- cluded examining over 7,500 recycling program guidelines representing 90 percent of the population to determine which jurisdictions accept piz- za boxes for recycling. The top jurisdictions include Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Vermont. The data is important since only 57 percent of Americans realize pizza boxes can be recycled at all, even though a majority of people have ac- cess to pizza box recycling. Since U.S. residents use about 3 billion pizza boxes a year, amounting to 600,000 tons of cardboard material that can be recycled and kept out of landfills, that represents a big opportunity for consumers and the environment. Hansan added, “Inconsistencies around local recycling program im- plementation, the influence of regional waste management operators, commodity export considerations and state-level policies are some fac- tors that contribute to regional variability. “The paper industry is communicating with recycling centers across the U.S. to encourage them to update their recycling guidelines. We know that paper mills across the country are using recycled pizza boxes, even ones with grease stains and a little stuck on cheese, to make the products that we use and rely on every day.” For consumers, recycling a pizza box is as simple as these three easy steps: empty, flatten and recycle the box by dropping it in a recycling bin or taking it to a recycling center. Consumers can check local guidelines by inputting their zip code at BeRecycled.org. Other resources include P+PB’s "What to do with Paper, Cardboard and More" at howlifeunfolds. com ; WestRock's study on pizza boxes with grease and stuck on cheese at westrock.com ; and The American Forest & Paper Association's recy- cling study at afandpa.org .
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February 13, 2023
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