Recycling Paperboard

by admin on 02/27/2010

Recycling paperboard has made the biggest impact in how much “trash” gets thrown away in our household. Since removing paperboard from our trash to the recycle pile, our weekly trash volume was cut by 40%. Weekly, we would place 2.5 bags of “trash” out for our curbside trash pickup for transport to the landfill. Now, after being conscious of paperboard as a recycle-able material, we now place 1.5 bags of trash per week. This is a huge savings in volume capacity to the landfills.

What is Paperboard? Can Paperboard be Recycled?
Paperboard, a cousin to cardboard, and also known as box board and container board is really, thicker paper. At some places you’ll find that paperboard may be combined with shredded paper due to the ‘lower grade’ or length of the paper threads. The trick in recycling paperboard is to evaluate the type you have – normal paperboard, shiny paperboard (most product packaging), a food to-go or take away paperboard box (though if heavily soiled can contaminate the other paper in the recycling process; through biodegrading of the food remnants). You’ll need to evaluate the paperboard and condition of the paperboard at the point of separation for recycling.

Overlooked Items as Recyclable Paperboard
Throwing out trash is one of those habits that is rote or something that is done without much thought to it. Think of the behavior and thought process of the situation: “I have something that I no longer need or is empty – I must throw it away”.

Therefore our trash would build up with paperboard recycling items such as:

    toilet paper rolls
    paper towel rolls
    gift wrapping paper rolls
    soap boxes
    cereal boxes
    frozen food boxes
    most packaged food boxes from a grocery store
    ice cream boxes
    food “to-go” boxes or take away boxes

the list could go on….

Paperboard (and cardboard) account for the largest amount, in volume, of the materials that I take to our recycling center. It really makes one stop and think about one’s own consumption of materials when you stare at your stored recycling materials that need to go to the center. I look at the other piles of recyclable materials in addition to paperboard such as glass, containers, plastics and paper and think, “wow, that’s a lot of space that isn’t taken up in a landfill.” To me, it is quite a sobering thought.

Please check with your curbside recycling provider or local recycling center as to the exact types and condition of paperboard they will accept to recycle.

Please use the comments section below to bring up any other points I may have neglected to mention in this post. Happy Recycling!

{ 0 comments }

Compost Pail for Kitchen Recycling

by admin on 12/31/2009

Before the year is out I wanted to tell you about an awesome gift I received for Christmas! In an effort to further reduce the organic waste, from our kitchen, that we contribute to our weekly trash (and ultimately, landfills) I was given a compost pail for Christmas.

Compost Pail for Kitchen Recycling - Click image for information and to purchase from Amazon.com


This compost pail (pictured left), which I will keep for kitchen recycling to help me with my goal of recycling more, allows for organic material waste from the cooking process to be placed in a gallon pail. This handy kitchen compost pail allows for vegetable scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, tea leaves and other cooking herbs to be deposited in the pail and not the trash. Ultimately, the pail will need to be emptied into a compost bin or compost pile you keep (or frequent) outside.

The compost pail does come with filters to prevent decomposition (read: nasty, stinky and smelly) odors from overtaking your kitchen for a few days. I think this is a perfect gift for the cook and recycling minded individual looking for further materials to remove from the normal household trash.

Now with a compost pail and my knowledge about carton recycling, there will be a drastic reduction in our kitchen cooking scraps and cartons going to landfills from our trash.

If you’re a reader that already uses a compost pail or you end up purchasing a compost pail for your own kitchen recycling; please let me know your experiences with it, by leaving a comment below.

If you feel this is great information to pass along to your social network, please do so with any of the quick social network icon links below.

{ 0 comments }

Carton Recycling

November 18, 2009
Thumbnail image for Carton Recycling

I’m always puzzled at whether or not food items that come in cartons, specifically juice or milk cartons, can be recycled. I know that cardboard and paperboard can be recycled, but cartons seem to be a hybrid of the two, sometimes glossy, sometimes thicker than traditional paperboard. Do any of those qualities disqualify the carton [...]

Read the full article →

America Recycles Day November 15

November 12, 2009
Thumbnail image for America Recycles Day November 15

Hey! America Recycles Day is this week. Are you recycling? If you didn’t know America Recycles Day is, officially, this Sunday the 15th of November.  Now in it’s twelfth year, according to the site, this day was established to encourage Americans to evaluate their recycling habits, increase their own recycling efforts (something this blog is [...]

Read the full article →

Recycle This!

September 30, 2009

Like any blog, one has to start somewhere. I start here, now…somewhere in the middle.

As I get older, I become more aware about what I consume in terms of purchases and all the physical materials that are part of a purchase. Whether it be groceries, clothes from a store, a new tv (or computer), birthday gifts, cards……you name it, I seem to be more conscious about the fact that if I buy something there are byproduct(s) of consumption/consumerism that have to be dealt with.

Read the full article →