15 Jul Why doesn’t Austin recycle cartons?

They are ubiquitous. They can be found in every school cafeteria, yoga studio, and vegan cafe in Austin. 

They are cartons. 

And despite this city’s green reputation, they cannot be recycled here. That’s because the recycling facilities that serve Austin do not have the right technology or equipment to sort and bail cartons. Michele Wagner is trying to change that. 

Wagner is a member of the Carton Council, a nonprofit organization made up of several of the country’s largest carton manufacturers, which aims to bring carton recycling to communities all across the United States. 

And they’ve been pretty successful. Since the council formed in 2009, the percent of the country’s population that has access to carton manufacturing has risen from 18 percent to 50 percent. When that number hits 60 percent, the recycling symbol will legally be allowed to be printed on cartons, a goal Wagner is enthusiastically working toward, and one that she hopes to achieve within the next few years. 

To the average consumer, this begs the question, why wasn’t the recycling logo already printed on cartons? Why is it news that in 2014 they are only just starting to be recycled on a large scale? 

As Wagner points out, carton recycling has been happening in the U.S. for 20 years, but it was not until recently that there has been a concerted effort to ensure its spread. That’s because, until recently there has been almost no infrastructure in place to see that cartons actually get recycled. Processing facilities need to have the necessary sorting and bailing equipment, end markets that will accept the recycled cartons need to be established, and the public needs to be educated about the proper disposal methods of cartons. 

That is where the Carton Council steps in. They give grants to local schools, governments, and recycling facilities in order to provide them with the necessary equipment to process cartons and to educate the public about the change. 

This is what the carton council did in Dallas and Houston, where they helped to launch massive public information campaigns, which included billboard advertisements and notices in municipal utility bills. Other Texas cities who already have carton recycling include Corpus Christi, Denton, El Paso, San Antonio, Forth Worth, and New Braunfels. 

How Cartons are Recycled

Cartons are a bit tricky to recycle because they are made up of several resources – paper, plastic (polyethylene) and aluminum. This means that before they can be recycled, they must be separated. Using a giant blender called a hydra-pulper, the cartons are mixed with water, separating the paper from the plastic and aluminum.  The paper is then used to make several other products, including tissues, office paper, and building materials. The aluminum and plastic on the other hand, are left mixed together and are not frequently recycled in the U.S. (check).

Another hurdle for carton recycling 

Carton recycling can also be difficult to implement because cartons themselves are prone to contamination, making it difficult to convince everyone from waste haulers to sorting and processing facilities to accept them. 

This is something else that the Carton Council can help with. The council has successfully started programs in school cafeterias that teach students how to empty any excess liquid from their milk cartons before tossing them into the recycling bin. However, on a larger scale, contamination is still a big problem that public information and educational campaigns are working to overcome. 

Carton Recycling in Austin

According to Wagner, talks are ongoing between the City of Austin and the Carton Council to begin carton recycling in Austin sometime in the future. Progress so far has been a bit slow, but Wagner hopes that Austin will begin carton recycling sometime in the near future.

If the city wants to achieve its ambitious zero waste goals, it won’t have much of a choice.