Remember Cartons this America recycles day

In honor of America Recycles Day on November 15, the Carton Council of North America is pleased to announce that more than 65.2 million U.S. households can recycle food and beverage cartons in residential recycling programs.

Since the start of 2015, more than 3 million American households have had cartons added to their local recycling programs making recycling more convenient and successful in diverting from local landfills. This success represents a rate of more than 10 thousand households added each day.

“Cartons are quickly becoming a mainstream recyclable material, thanks to tireless efforts by countless stakeholders who are working hard to increase the recycling of cartons nationwide.” said Jason Pelz, vice president of recycling projects, Carton Council of North America, and vice president, environment, Tetra Pak Cluster Americas. “Cartons represent some of the highest quality fiber in the residential recycling stream and they are recycled into printing and writing paper, tissues, paper towels and even green building materials.”

The Carton Council, a group of carton manufacturers united to grow carton recycling in the US, has made tremendous progress in increasing access to carton recycling nationwide. In 2009 when they first formed, access was at 18 percent. Now, nearly 56 percent of American households have access to carton recycling.

Building carton recycling access is necessary to establish the foundation to increase the carton recycling rate. Because cartons are a newer recyclable commodity, compared to aluminum cans and plastic bottles, a substantial infrastructure must be established before robust recycling can gain momentum. As access continues to grow, so do end market solutions able to recycle recovered cartons.

“As additional household access is made available to more Americans, we look forward to working with companies and brands as well as communities to help ensure more consumers are actively recycling their cartons. It is with the support of so many packaging, recycling and municipal stakeholders who recognize the value of carton recycling that we can celebrate such growth this America Recycles Day.”