Recycle Your Cartons!
15 09 2011
Here’s an update from the Environmental News Network about carton recycling, one of the newest recycling movements in the US:
Cartons are recyclable! Made mainly from paper, cartons are in demand to be recycled into new paper products.
The Carton Council is committed to increasing carton recycling in the United States. By promoting both recycling technology and local collection programs they work to limit the number of valuable cartons that end up in a landfill.
The Carton Council, formed by four of the country’s leading carton manufacturers—Elopak, Evergreen Packaging, SIG Combibloc and Tetra Pak, is specifically committed to increasing carton recycling in the United States. Made mainly from paper, a renewable resource from responsibly managed forests, cartons are recyclable. By promoting both recycling technology and local collection programs, the Carton Council is planning to limit the amount of cartons that end up in a landfill.
The implementation of carton recycling in Dallas is the latest example of a national trend. In 2008, only 18 percent of U.S. households had access to carton recycling programs. Today, this number has nearly doubled to almost 36%, with cities in over 40 states representing approximately 40 million households now accepting cartons in their curbside collection programs. Dallas increases these numbers by an additional 235,000 households, and is setting the bar for other cities in the state of Texas to follow suit. Dallas also joins a growing number of cities across the country such as Los Angeles, New York, and Boston that have expanded their recycling programs to include cartons.
Last year, the City of Dallas recycled more than 50,000 tons of materials and is on track to recycle nearly 65,000 tons this year. Carton recycling will help the city toward their 31% diversion goal for the year. By increasing their recycling rate and coming up with innovative ways to increase waste diversion, the city saved $1,185,260.21 of landfill space.
For further information: http://recyclecartons.com/
Even if you don’t live in an area that is offering carton recycling, you can encourage your local community to ask for this program to be implemented! Let local officials know that you’re interested in the latest advances in protecting the environment!
I think it was on this blog that I saw that you can now buy wine in paper cartons that are 100% fully recyclable. I already try to recycle traditional milk cartons, are you not supposed to?!
I can never understand why some schemes are hesitant to accept cartons. Here in Devon in the UK we have recycling collections from dedicated bins in front of our houses once a week. They seperate glass, card, tins etc and reject anything that can’t be recycled, I find I have to leave cartons out for 2-3 weeks before the bin men will take them.
This is very good program connected with green printing and may have positive feedback on protecting nature when we speak for saving trees from cutting and using them as material for production of paper for printing.
Recycling in the U.S. is a $236 billion a year industry. More than 56,000 recycling and reuse enterprises employ 1.1 million workers nationwide. If we created more recycling opportunities we would create more jobs and no one would have to loose their jobs either. We should also practice doing a recycle even on gadgets or computer components such as Surplus Toner .
We love this initiative! Anything that can be recycled, should.