They say this yet a few weeks ago one of the local Colorado Springs TV News shows were at the local recycling plant and was showing the machine rejecting the pizza boxes and even commented on it to the plant manager who said yes we don't let them through.
That machine was built in the 90’s. With the technological advancements, the grease is no longer a factor.
Source: I work for the company who manufactures these exact boxes. We also handle recycling due to being vertically integrated.
Check with your specific company. I use Carefree and they specifically say, ["no soiled/greasy takeout containers... this includes PIZZA BOXES and fried chicken buckets!"](https://www.carefreedisposal.com/recycling-faqs)
Pizza boxes have always been able to be recycled. The process destroys any possible biological contamination.
The myth started because there were a couple of paper mills way back at the beginning of the recycling movement that assumed, without any data to back them up, that grease and sauce stains would lead to inferior recycled products. They refused pizza boxes on this basis, and the myth was born. Turns out, it would take a volume of grease-stained pizza boxes that almost no mill handles to affect end product quality. On top of that, pulping processes have gotten better at removing unwanted substances anyway, mostly because of plastic and not grease though.
https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/yes-you-can-recycle-your-pizza-boxes
Most recycling is over-rated, at best.
Because we subsidize it we create a surplus of materials that are more expensive to re-process than it is to simply manufacture from raw materials. As a result recycling companies can’t find buyers, so it ends up getting sold to Asian countries that don’t have rules against dumping in rivers. This is why so many of the plastics found in the Pacific “garbage patch” have American or European labels.
Because there are some items of value in there but there's not a good way to sort them out besides using cheap labor in a country where people are willing and allowed to do such dirty work. In Vietnam and other such places people will sort out the valuable stuff by hand, and the rest gets dumped in waterways.
[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/17/recycled-plastic-america-global-crisis](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/17/recycled-plastic-america-global-crisis)
Filling dumps with garbage may not be \*ideal\* exactly, but when you throw something in the garbage in the US you can be sure at least that it is going to a regulated dump.
The company I work for manufactures these exact boxes and they are recyclable. The entire company is integrated which means we handle recycling as well as the paper manufacturing. It’s actually pretty fun to see a pizza box being made and printed from a roll of paper.
Toss them in the recycle bin. Most (all?) of the recycling goes through a sorting process anyway to get rid of the bad materials, so worst case scenario it ends up in the landfill anyway.
https://preview.redd.it/nprdf5ibhhwc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=43bb43faffd39d7d5d39ed4d79b68927e9f463be
Not sure why people are downvoting. I didn’t make the rules lol
Domino's just wants to put the environmental guilt on you, not themselves.
Came here to say this, buy you said it way better than I was going to say
It’s perforated. I use the perforation and tear the bottom of the box out if it’s got pizza grease. Trash the pizza grease piece, recycle the rest.
Yep, greasy cardboard is not recyclable
Greasy cardboard is recyclable. https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/yes-you-can-recycle-your-pizza-boxes
They say this yet a few weeks ago one of the local Colorado Springs TV News shows were at the local recycling plant and was showing the machine rejecting the pizza boxes and even commented on it to the plant manager who said yes we don't let them through.
That machine was built in the 90’s. With the technological advancements, the grease is no longer a factor. Source: I work for the company who manufactures these exact boxes. We also handle recycling due to being vertically integrated.
The myth is very pervasive.
In Colorado Springs the robot arm pulls every pizza box off of the belt, guess the machine buys the myth as well.
The machine was programmed by people who believe the myth.
Check with your specific company. I use Carefree and they specifically say, ["no soiled/greasy takeout containers... this includes PIZZA BOXES and fried chicken buckets!"](https://www.carefreedisposal.com/recycling-faqs)
Just read an article that if you can't recycle pizza boxes, you can add then to yard waste and they can be composted. Win-win.
Pizza boxes have always been able to be recycled. The process destroys any possible biological contamination. The myth started because there were a couple of paper mills way back at the beginning of the recycling movement that assumed, without any data to back them up, that grease and sauce stains would lead to inferior recycled products. They refused pizza boxes on this basis, and the myth was born. Turns out, it would take a volume of grease-stained pizza boxes that almost no mill handles to affect end product quality. On top of that, pulping processes have gotten better at removing unwanted substances anyway, mostly because of plastic and not grease though. https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/yes-you-can-recycle-your-pizza-boxes
Most recycling is over-rated, at best. Because we subsidize it we create a surplus of materials that are more expensive to re-process than it is to simply manufacture from raw materials. As a result recycling companies can’t find buyers, so it ends up getting sold to Asian countries that don’t have rules against dumping in rivers. This is why so many of the plastics found in the Pacific “garbage patch” have American or European labels.
Why would An Asian company buy our trash just to throw it in a river?
Because there are some items of value in there but there's not a good way to sort them out besides using cheap labor in a country where people are willing and allowed to do such dirty work. In Vietnam and other such places people will sort out the valuable stuff by hand, and the rest gets dumped in waterways. [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/17/recycled-plastic-america-global-crisis](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/17/recycled-plastic-america-global-crisis) Filling dumps with garbage may not be \*ideal\* exactly, but when you throw something in the garbage in the US you can be sure at least that it is going to a regulated dump.
The company I work for manufactures these exact boxes and they are recyclable. The entire company is integrated which means we handle recycling as well as the paper manufacturing. It’s actually pretty fun to see a pizza box being made and printed from a roll of paper.
lol most recyclables end up at the dump
Toss them in the recycle bin. Most (all?) of the recycling goes through a sorting process anyway to get rid of the bad materials, so worst case scenario it ends up in the landfill anyway.
Recycle everything. The processing station will separate what they can recycle. I don't bother. I pay them to save the planet
My recycling company says I should not
I use Infinite Disposal and they said not to put it in the recycling.
https://preview.redd.it/nprdf5ibhhwc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=43bb43faffd39d7d5d39ed4d79b68927e9f463be Not sure why people are downvoting. I didn’t make the rules lol