It can be really confusing to know what boxboard is and isn’t recyclable. But if you understand why, you might have a better idea.

Paper that is used to package food items that go in the fridge or freezer are reinforced in one of two ways. One is recyclable, one isn’t.

The NON-recyclable reinforcement is a plastic coating. As you might guess, the plastic coating is used to keep the box from falling apart due to condensation that occurs when the package goes in and out of different temperatures (from delivery to refrigerated shelving to your shopping cart, to your home, and back into a refrigerated environment). Unfortunately, that also means that the paper will resist falling apart in the recycling process, (the recycling process entails paper being dumped into a vat of liquid to tease apart the fibers so they can be reconstituted into more paper). This type of plastic coating can be found on milk cartons, butter boxes, and most frozen-food boxes such as frozen pizza boxes, Lean Cuisines, and Smart Ones. You can usually tell that something has been coated in plastic when you look at the interior of the box or carton. If it is white, that’s a strong sign that it is coated in plastic. You can also rip the box and if see a layer of plastic coating interspersed between layers of paper—than it is not recyclable.

The RECYCLABLE reinforcement is a chemical coating. This can be found on 6 or 12-pack soft-drink or beer cartons and cases, and soem frozen food boxes. You can usually tell when something has been coated chemically by looking again at the interior of the box or carton. If it has the “natural” cardboard color, that’s a good indicator that it is coated chemically and can be recycled. The chemical coating is strong enough to resist falling apart while it is in use, but will still allow the paper to fall apart in the recycling process.

There is still a third category,called aseptic packaging. Soy milk, juice boxes, etc. come in this packaging. These cartons are made with six layers of several different materials. This packaging is not recyclable within CSWD but there is one place that we know of that recycles this packaging. Click here for more information.