It always bugs me that you can't recycle cardboard pizza take-out/delivery boxes. Does anyone have ideas on another way to transport a delicious pizza without so I can fill my belly without filling our landfills? Maybe a giant tupperware?

I didn't know that you couldn't recycle pizza boxes...how did you find that out, is it listed as a "No" on your recycling bin?

Pizza boxes are made from corrugated cardboard, which becomes un-recyclable if stained with grease, cheese, etc. This is because the recycling process involves grinding up all the paper fibers into a fat, wet blob of gunk (we're using scientific terms here, people) and any oils mixed in will contaminate the pulp. These oils aren't separable from the paper fibers, so the entire box is trash, I'm afraid.

Some places like Round Table put their pizzas on a wax sheet, so those clean boxes are recyclable. However, I doubt that anyone at the sanitation department actually goes through the trouble of checking, so all pizza boxes probably get sorted into the landfill along with other kinds of food packaging.

Post edited by: greeniac94704, at: 11/30/2007

How about making your own pizza? I think Rachael Ray has a recipe you can make in 30 minutes or less.

If you have a compost pile, you could rip up the box and add it to your compost, just remove as much of the meat products as possible and try to peel off the cheese.

If the cardboard is covered in soil, it doesn't matter that it has oil on it...but the oil interferes with making recycled cardboard which is why the garbage company won't take it. They don't compost pizza boxes. They sell recycled cardboard to companies who use them for making cardboard with post consumer waste products.

Post edited by: greeniac13, at: 12/14/2007

I do have an invention that eliminated the cardboard box from pizza delivery, but not take-out. I first presented the Re-Pizza Delivery System to major pizza chains in 1993, and they refused to consider it or even look at it. I'm revisiting the patent procedure, and all potential funding sources.

Recycling experts will tell you that Pizza boxes are one of the biggest nuisances they face.

I will re-post when I am ready to announce this revolutionary invention in greater detail.