Recycle or Compost Cardboard, which is Greener?
Recycle or Compost Cardboard, which is Greener?
You have an old cardboard box. It’s pretty worn out, but otherwise clean. What is the more environmentally friendly thing to do: recycle it or compost it?
Sending a cardboard box to be recycled does take some energy and resources. If you put your cardboard box into a curbside home recycling bin, it has to be transported to a MRF (Materials Recovery Facility), sorted out from the other recyclables, baled and sent to a manufacturer who then processes it and creates new boxes or other paper products with it.
However, this is still a fraction of the energy that is required to manufacture boxes from 100% virgin materials. Recycling 1 ton of cardboard saves 46 gallons of oil!
So if you have clean, dry cardboard, reusing it (if you can) is of course the most environmentally friendly thing to do. But if you have no use for it, or if it is too worn for reuse, recycling it is definitely worthwhile. Corrugated cardboard is a desirable recyclable, there is a strong market for it.
Preparing Cardboard for Recycling
- Be sure to remove any packing peanuts or any other non-cardboard materials from the box.
- Tape and labels can be left on.
- Flatten.
- Make sure it stays dry! Read this article on why not to recycle wet cardboard.
Why not donate your boxes?
If you have a bunch of clean leftover boxes, there are plenty of people who would love to have them. You can post it on BoxGiver, which helps people with extra packing materials find others who can use them. But I find that an even easier, more local option is to post it on your local “Buy Nothing” group where people give away items they no longer need. Where I live, almost anything offered up on the list gets snapped up immediately, so give it a try!
What to Do with Dirty or Wet Boxes
If you have boxes that have any kind of chemicals soaked into them that you wouldn’t want to ingest, you’ll have to throw those in the trash. But if your boxes are just greasy from food, or moldy, or they have gotten wet, you can compost them.
Cardboard is also great for keeping down weeds. Create paths by laying down a layer of cardboard and then spread some mulch on top, or put it in garden areas topped with a layer of grass clippings or other organic materials to smother weeds naturally.
Interested in getting started with composting? Check out Composting 101, our intro guide to all things compost-related.
