PINEHURST - Building Community for Over 50 Years

Can I Recycle Pizza Boxes?

I have often wondered why pizza boxes are on the list of items homeowners can't recycle. Well we did some searching over the internet and found out why from this good resource http://www.recyclebank.com/live-green/330-the-pizza-box-recycling-mystery/.

Simply put, you can't recycle a paper item stained with grease, oil or food.

Grease does not break down when the recycling company adds water to the paper. As you might already know, grease and water don't mix. Trying to recycling a greasy pizza box can actually do more harm than good. A soiled item can contaminated the whole batch of paper recycling materials. Just think how wasteful this can be regarding the time & energy used to collect all the paper, plus now you have to dispose in a land fill.