How Cardboard Box Recycling in Orange County Works

Posted by OC Recycling on May 23rd, 2019

Corrugated cardboard, which is the type of cardboard found in cardboard boxes, is the highest value grade of paper. The corrugated piece is the extra layer of fiber that zig-zags between the brown sheets, making it tougher to tear and sturdier for shipping. Its durability means long paper fibers, which also helps explain why it has the highest recycling rate of paper products: 92.9% in 2015. In the past few years, it has steadily increased. This is wonderful for our environment and our economy!

Why cardboard box recycling in Orange County is important

Did you know that over half of the cardboard collected is used to make new cardboard boxes, while the rest of the cardboard can be downcycled into paperboard and used for cereal boxes or chipboard and used for shoeboxes? This is great news for our environment. You see, making one ton of virgin cardboard requires three tons of trees to be cut down. That’s terrible! Recycling one ton of cardboard eliminates nine cubic yards of landfill space. By recycling cardboard boxes, you keeping trees from needing to be felled and also keeping our landfills from taking up more space.

How to prepare your items for cardboard recycling centers in Orange County 

Now that you see how important recycling your cardboard boxes is, you will want to participate in doing so. It’s quite easy!

Step #1 Since most of the cardboard boxes you have in your possession will have been used for shipping, you’ll want to remove any shipping materials such as packing peanuts, plastic bags and bubble wrap.

Step #2 Next, use either a knife or scissors to cut any tape from the box, then collapse it. You don’t need to remove the tape, but most recycling centers prefer that boxes are flattened to save space.

Step #3 For some particularly huge cardboard boxes, you may need to fold or cut the flattened box in half. Some programs also allow you to keep them large, it all depends on the exact resource you are using for your cardboard recycling.

Step #4 While every recycling program is different, pizza boxes are a frequent source of contamination in all of them.  The key question to ask is: Are there oil stains on the box? For pizza boxes, and other boxes that are food-soiled, cut out any oil stains before recycling. Greasy and food-soiled cardboard cannot be recycled because its quality is degraded.

Step #5 Find a local drop-off location for cardboard near you. There is one right here in town!

Next, the cardboard is recycled

Once you’ve prepared your corrugated cardboard, the professionals take it from there. The cardboard is baled and sent to a mill, shredded into small pieces, and put in a pulping machine to introduce water and necessary chemicals that serve to break down the cardboard into fibers. Then, any ink and tape is removed and the paper fibers start bonding together. Finally, the fibers are rolled and dried to be sent off to be made into new products.

Recycling cardboard is very easy and very beneficial. There is no reason not to do so!