Many people assume that pizza boxes can be broken down and reused for paper, insulation or more boxes.
Darby Hoover, who is a senior resource specialist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that pizza boxes suffer the most from getting mixed with other materials. The boxes are not good for recycling because of all the leftover cheese grease that ends up soaking the cardboard.
Hoover also said that even if people remove the cheese and sauce that pizza leaves behind, the grease would have already soaked in. During the pulping process, food and oil cannot be separated, which means that once the paper is soaked with grease, then you cannot recycle it.
It’s recommended that you place pizza boxes with the rest of your organic waste, if your community offers high-volume composting. If your community doesn’t offer it, then you can throw the box out with your normal garbage. The same goes with other paper products that have been dirtied, and this includes paper towels, napkins, as well as tissues.
Also, the plastic tripod that you often find in the middle of a pizza, that too can’t be recycled.
