Grasshopper New Media Presents...

At the beginning of this year, I made a “green resolution” to recycle paperboard this year.

I found out about two years ago that my city would recycle paperboard (think cereal boxes) and cardboard, but that I would have to deliver it to the dump as our city didn’t accept it curbside.

I was elated to have another way to recycle, and started saving my paperboard in boxes - in my kitchen - to one day deliver to the recycling center at the town dump. Box after box quickly filled up - and I was using large boxes.

I was amazed at how much paperboard I was saving, and, therefore, how much paperboard I had been putting in the trash. A side affect I did not expect when I initially decided to recycle this stuff was that my kitchen trash can was taking twice as long to fill up! This also meant fewer trips outside to empty the trash.
Alas, my kitchen filled up with the boxes of flattened paperboard boxes, and I became increasingly frustrated with the “trash” overtaking my kitchen. We are a one-vehicle family and my husband works outside of the home, taking the car with him. When he is home, we are usually running “necessary” errands. Taking the recyclables to the dump (out of town) was just too difficult for us to fit in to our schedule.

My mom visited soon after the birth of my youngest son, and complained about the condition of my kitchen. She almost always complains about something, but this time I agreed with her . So after we finally got rid of the collection of paperboard, I no longer recycled them.

Yes, eco-guilt set in. And I felt those pangs of guilt every single time I put a box in the trash can.

Fast forward to the beginning of this year, when I received an email newsletter from a “green” site - I wish I remembered which one - that asked which, if any, green resolution I would make this year. I already did most of the solutions on the list, and had already made the decision to teach others more about living a greener lifestyle (hence this column and eventually a green site of my own). But the option to recycle paperboard glared at me, and I knew that I would make this my resolution!

Then my city went and did something wonderful; they began accepting paperboard and cardboard curbside! I was so relieved, and I emailed all my local lists to let them know that they could add paperboard and cardboard to their mixed-container recycling bins.

I had originally thought that paperboard was only cereal boxes and the like, and was surprised to see toilet paper tubes on the list. According to Paper University:

Paperboard is the stiff type of paper often referred to as “cardboard.” Paperboard is used in food packaging (such as cereal boxes), and is used to make many other types of products such as shoe boxes, video game boxes, book covers, etc.

Once you start recycling paperboard, you’ll likely be as amazed as I was at how much it is used in our product packaging. Which means that by taking this one tiny step - adding paperboard to your recycling bin - will make a huge impact on our Earth.

To find out if your community has paperboard and cardboard recycling (and better yet, curbside paperboard and cardboard recycling :D), check out Earth 911 - all you have to do is put in your zip code.

[tags]green, recycling, paperboard, cardboard, food packaging, cereal boxes, shoe boxes, video game boxes, book covers[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by Schwabie, under a Creative Commons license