Carton Recycling Available to Half of U.S. Households

Most of us recycle paper and plastic – but what about cartons?  According to the Carton Council of North America,

• In 2009, only 18% of U.S. households had access to food and beverage carton recycling programs. Now, nearly 61% of households have access to carton recycling, that’s a remarkable 238% increase!
• In 2009, just 6% of used food and beverage cartons made it into the recycling bin in curbside recycling programs. Now, roughly 16% of cartons make it into the recycling bin in curbside recycling programs, a 166% increase.
• Carton recycling programs now exist in 49 states, with more than 71 million U.S. homes able to recycle cartons via curbside or drop-off programs.
• As of 2019, there are 10,836 school based carton recycling programs around the country.

Since cartons are made mostly of paper, they are a renewable resource and be reused forever and remanufactured into new products. Cartons are also lightweight and transportation efficient, with just 94% product and only 6% package.

There are two types of cartons – and both types are recyclable

The shelf-stable (aka “asceptic”) cartons are made of mostly paper, but also some plastic and a thin layer of aluminum are added to help the food inside stay fresh for a longer period of time. The shelf-stable cartons are found on store shelves for products like broth, wine, and juice.  The refrigerated (aka gable top) cartons are made of mostly paper, but some plastic too.  They are found in the chilled parts of the store for products like milk, cream, and egg substitutes.

Carton Recycling provides an additional revenue stream

A liquid extraction baler like our ExtractPack Pro can help you recycle full cartons or ones with residual liquid.

Does your recycling facility recycle cartons?  Any Harmony Enterprises Inc. baler can be used to bale cartons, depending on the quantity of the material you are baling.  If there are any liquids remaining, and you are baling a small amount of cartons, the BCB2003 ExtractPack would also work well. For larger carton recycling volumes, you may want to consider a larger liquid extraction baler like our ExtractPack Pro or ExtractPack Max.