Strip the box down to paper
Tape, shipping labels in thick stacks, plastic pillows, foam, and wooden crate parts are not cardboard. Pull tape if your recycler requires clean paper. Break boxes flat so they take less space and so the attendant can see that the load is paper. A box that is wet, oil-stained, or full of food is often trash, not recycling. Pizza grease and moving-blanket lint are common reasons a mill rejects a bale. If you used boxes for hardware, sweep the staples and screws out before you recycle the carton.
Packing fill has its own path
Peanuts, inflatable pillows, and foam sheets do not go in the cardboard stack. Ask whether a local shipping store takes clean peanuts back, and ask the disposal site whether foam is trash. Do not scatter peanuts in the truck bed. Bag them. Bubble wrap is plastic film. Some grocery drop-offs take film, and many curbside bins do not. Check the program you actually use. A mixed bundle of cardboard and film can get the cardboard refused.
Use the recycling rule, not the dump by default
If your curbside or drop-off program accepts flattened cardboard, use it. A transfer station might still have a cardboard container, and it might charge for mixed trash while recycling is handled differently. Read the posted sheet or call. Do not bury recyclable boxes under trash and pay to throw away a load you could have sorted in the driveway. If the cardboard is contaminated, say so and put it in trash. Wish-cycling a greasy box helps no one.
Before you go
- Remove tape, film, foam, and hardware from the boxes.
- Flatten clean, dry cardboard for the program that accepts it.
- Bag packing fill and ask where foam and plastic film belong.
- Take contaminated boxes to trash and recyclable ones to the paper stream.
Leaving peanuts and stretch wrap inside boxes and calling the whole pile recycling.
Questions people ask
Do I have to remove every label?
Follow the recycler you are using. Some want tape and labels off. Some accept standard moving boxes as they are. Ask before you spend an evening on tape.
Can wet boxes dry and then be recycled?
If they dried without mold or stains and the program accepts them, yes. Boxes that fell apart in the rain are usually trash.
Search Dumpmapper by ZIP code or city, then call the site before you load the truck. Hours and accepted materials change.