Why won recyclers take cereal boxes along with cardboard?
If a recycler takes cereal boxes at all, they will probably take it along with mixed waste paper. The “cardboard” from which cereal boxes are made is really known as chipboard or paperboard. It is not the same grade of paper as the corrugated cardboard that is used to make shipping and moving boxes. Of these two types of cardboard, corrugated cardboard has a much higher value as a recycled raw material. Chipboard has little or no value as a recycled raw material, and if a recycling company tries to sell a bale of corrugated cardboard that has chipboard mixed into it, the buyer might refuse not only the bale in question, but anything else that recycling company tries to bring in later. If the demand for products made from recycled chipboard increases, perhaps paper mills will be more willing to take it as a raw material (and pay a better price). The more attention we consumers give to purchasing recycled products, the better the chances that the economics of recycling will improve.
A. If a recycler takes cereal boxes at all, they will probably take it along with mixed waste paper. The “cardboard” from which cereal boxes are made is really known as chipboard or paperboard. It is not the same grade of paper as the corrugated cardboard that is used to make shipping and moving boxes. Of these two types of cardboard, corrugated cardboard has a much higher value as a recycled raw material. Chipboard has little or no value as a recycled raw material, and if a recycling company tries to sell a bale of corrugated cardboard that has chipboard mixed into it, the buyer might refuse not only the bale in question, but anything else that recycling company tries to bring in later. If the demand for products made from recycled chipboard increases, perhaps paper mills will be more willing to take it as a raw material (and pay a better price). The more attention we consumers give to purchasing recycled products, the better the chances that the economics of recycling will improve.
