Are cardboard boxes recyclable? There are two main types of cardboard boxes: corrugated (fluted) and solid. You might think that the corrugated kind is recyclable because it looks more like paper. However, they’re not — although you can recycle them, but you need to de-flute first. But the solid type of cardboard (or cartonboard) is fully recyclable, so you can feel good about using them.
Clean the boxes
Are you thinking of recycling your cardboard boxes, there’s one important thing to keep in mind: you should clean them first. If they’re dirty or contaminated with other materials, most recycling facilities won’t accept them (and if they accept, those facilities will charge more for the service). So how do you clean your boxes? Let’s take a look at some of the most common methods used by people who want to recycle their cardboard boxes. You can also get a complete guide about corrugated boxes about your products.
Cardboard Boxes: How To Clean Them
· Remove all tape and adhesive from the box. You can do it by soaking the box in hot water for about an hour or until it softens enough that you can tear off the tape with your hands.
· Use a strong detergent and warm water to scrub the box down with a sponge or scrub brush until it is completely clean of any dirt, debris, or glue residue left behind by previous owners or users of this particular box (if any)
· Rinse off any remaining soap residue from inside and out with fresh water until all traces go from every surface area within reachable distance from where it stood while scrubbing down.
Flatten the boxes
It’s true: cardboard boxes are recyclable!
But you have to do it right.
Cardboard boxes are recyclable, but you need to flatten them first.
The reason for this is that the recycling process is more efficient when you flatten the cardboard, and that’s the main step in the recycling process. Without that, you cannot put your flattened boxes into your curb side recycling bin or take them to a drop-off centre. You can flatten the boxes, after making them clean and dry. They’re not, you’ll have to shred them instead. You’re having trouble flattening your boxes, use a pair of scissors or a utility knife to make a few cuts in each of the corners to make them flatter.
If you want to recycle a cardboard box, the thing you’ll want to do is to flatten out as much as possible. The more surface area you can flat, the better your chances of recycling your box (and the less chance there is for someone to mistake it for trash).
Remove the liners and sticky labels
If you have a cardboard box that’s been used to ship something, it’s probably covered in a thin plastic liner. This liner is usually made from recycled material, so it should be removed before you recycle your box. If you don’t remove this liner from your box. The recycling process won’t be able to recycle the box because it needs to be able to separate all of the different types of materials inside of it.
Sticky labels are also a problem for cardboard recycling since they can’t be separated from the box material.
Take the stack to a recycling centre
If you’ve got a few boxes sitting around your house. It’s time to get those puppies out of the trash and into the recycling bin.
It’s easy! Just take the stack of boxes over to your local recycling centre. They’ll be happy to take them off your hands and make sure they get where they need to go. You can recycle cardboard boxes at a local recycling centre or through your local curb side pickup. You can also use them to make something new!
The best way to recycle your cardboard boxes is to take them to a recycling center. Recycling centers accept all kinds of recyclables, including cardboard.
Put Them In Your Curb side Bin, If You Have One
If you have a curbside recycling bin, put your cardboard boxes in there. This is important because it will help to keep the city clean and make your city look better.
Cardboard is one of the most common materials in your trash and one can recycle it. But if you put it in your regular garbage bin. It’s going to end up in a landfill—a place where it will sit and decompose for years.
Cardboard boxes are also useful for the packaging of your food products and also can be recyclable that can also be reusable.
Conclusion
Recycling is indeed a complex process; however, there are still ways to increase participation in the process. A cardboard collection company would mainly sort out the materials based on their quality and convert them into new products. There are certain standards that these recyclers set, to make sure the quality of the material is kept intact. This way they can sell it to manufacturers. Thus they can reuse them or incorporate them as raw materials for making new products like cardboard boxes.