Paper & Cardboard | Lake Region Solid Wa

Paper & Cardboard Recycling

Paper and cardboard are among the most commonly recycled materials in the United States. Recycling these materials conserves natural resources, saves energy, reduces landfill waste, and supports the manufacturing of new paper products.

Many homes and businesses generate large amounts of paper and cardboard every day. By recycling these materials, residents can help reduce the need for virgin wood fiber while supporting a more sustainable economy.

Cardboard and paper can be recycled several times before the fibers become too short to be reused.

What Can be Recyled?

Most recycling programs accept a variety of clean, dry paper products.

Accepted Materials

✓ Corrugated cardboard boxes

✓ Paperboard (cereal, cracker, and shoe boxes)

✓ Newspapers

✓ Magazines and catalogs

✓ Office paper

✓ Junk mail

✓ Envelopes (including window envelopes)

✓ Paper bags

✓ Telephone books

✓ Paperback books (remove hard covers if required)

✓ Shredded Paper (not all facilities will accept paper in this format)

What Cannot be Recycled?

Paper products that are wet, heavily soiled, or coated with food residue cannot usually be recycled.

Do NOT place the following in paper recycling containers:

✗ Food-soiled paper

✗ Wax-coated cardboard

✗ Wax paper

✗ Paper towels

✗ Napkins

✗ Tissues

✗ Disposable paper plates or cups

✗ Laminated paper

✗ Carbon paper

✗ Greasy pizza boxes (tear off any clean portions and recycle it while placing the soiled portion in the trash or compost)

Preparing Paper & Cardboard for Recycling

Clean, dry paper has a much higher recycling value than contaminated materials. A few simple steps help improve the quality of recyclable materials:

Flatten cardboard boxes to save space in recycling containers and collection vehicles.
Separate paper from trash whenever possible. Remove plastic bags, bubble wrap, Styrofoam®, and packing materials.
Keep paper and cardboard clean and dry.
Do not bundle materials unless requested.
Avoid placing recyclable paper inside plastic bags.
Pieces smaller than a credit card should not be included as they will likely be too small to be capture by the sorting or processing equipment.

Paper Recycling in the Lake Region

Residents, schools, and businesses are encouraged to recycle paper and cardboard whenever possible. However, not every county within the Lake Region accepts the same types of paper for recycling. Additional details are available on each of the county pages: Anderson, Coffey, Franklin, Linn, Miami, Osage, and Shawnee.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I recycle pizza boxes?

Only if they are clean. Grease and food contamination prevent paper fibers from being recycled. Tear off and recycle the clean portion, then dispose of the greasy portion in the trash or compost if accepted.

Pizza Boxes ARE Recyclable!

Do I need to remove tape and labels?

Small amounts of tape, labels, and staples are generally acceptable and are removed during the recycling process. Large amounts of plastic packing tape should be removed when practical.

Can shredded paper be recycled?

Some recycling programs accept shredded paper, while others do not because the fibers are too small for their sorting equipment. Check with your local recycling provider before placing shredded paper in your recycling bin.

Can paper get wet?

Wet paper loses quality and may not be recyclable. Store recyclable paper and cardboard in a dry location until collection day.

The LIfecycle of Paper

An average cardboard box is used for less than 30 days before being discarded
A single piece of paper cannot be recycled infinitely; its wood fibers break down and can only be reused 5 to 7 times before becoming too short to bind.
It only takes about 7 days for an old newspaper to go through the recycling process and emerge as a brand new newspaper.
Discarded cereal boxes and pizza boxes are often transformed into new corrugated cardboard, tissue products, or even masking tape.
Modern paper relies on managed timberlands where 3 to 4 trees are planted for every single tree harvested

Surprising Waste Paper Stats

Nationally, the U.S. successfully processes 46 million tons of paper annually, while Kansas hits an estimated overall state municipal recycling rate of 26% to 33%
Over 90% of all products shipped in the U.S. arrive in corrugated boxes, leading nearly 80% of retailers and grocers to mandate cardboard baling and recycling
A waste characterization study by Kansas State University revealed that paper and cardboard make up 37.4% of the material that could have been successfully diverted from local landfills.
Recycling a single ton of paper products saves exactly 17 mature trees, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, and 7,000 gallons of water