Sometimes, knowing what to put in which bin can be confusing — especially when you get multiple answers for the same question.
One concerned resident went to r/recycling to get the truth about recycling pizza boxes once and for all.
The photo shows the greasy remains left on an otherwise empty pizza box with a caption that said, "I heard recently that most places will now accept pizza boxes with some grease on them. Any truth to that?"
"It totally depends on the facilities in your location," one Redditor advised, which explains why there are so many different answers to the same question.
Knowing what to recycle and how is more important than you think. When items aren't disposed of properly, they most likely end up in already overpopulated landfills, adding to the toxic cocktail of carbon and methane polluting our air and oceans.
There are many myths about recycling, and educating yourself is a crucial weapon in the fight against waste. Check out the Recycling Partnership's Recycle Check to find out what recycling is accepted in your area. For trickier items, use TerraCycle's recycling solutions and become a part of the circular solution.
There really is a solution for almost any item, so before you toss anything into the trash, ask yourself if there's a better option. You can always donate, but there are also ways to make money off of items you no longer need.
Trashie's Take Back Bag allows users to earn major rewards in exchange for all of their unwanted textiles. ThredUp buys and sells secondhand clothing through its Clean Out Service.
The OP's pizza box query ignited much conversation.
🗣️ What confuses you most about recycling protocol?
🔘 Which materials I can recycle 📦
🔘 How clean the material needs to be 🧼
🔘 What the plastic numbers mean ♻️
🔘 Nothing at all 😇
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
"You need to look up your local municipality's recycling program. Recycling is not standardized across the nation," one Redditor wrote.
"Toss the bottom, recycle the top," another suggested.
"Either put the whole thing in the compost / green waste bin, or recycle the top and compost the bottom. If no green compost / green waste bin then trash the greasy part," commented a third with all of the major options.
"I put them into my paper shredder and put the shredding in my garden," shared another.
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