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How to Recycle Cardboard

How to Recycle Cardboard

Updated 3 January 2020 01:30 PM
Cardboard is fully recyclable when it’s not wet or contaminated with food waste.

Place your cardboard in your council recycling bin.

Wet or greasy cardboard should be thrown in the garbage as it can clog machinery at recycling centres. Wax coated cardboard must also be disposed of in rubbish.

It is one of the simplest products to recycle and by doing so saves the felling of trees to create new product.

If you are moving house, don't buy boxes - ask your friends and family to keep any cardboard boxes for you to use.  If you don't have enough, hire boxes. 
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Science Notes
The difference between cardboard and paperboard is that that cardboard is generally double layered and paperboard single layered. Cardboard is typically used for something that might be heavier or require heating and paperboard is generally used for lighter items or items that won’t be sitting in the box for very long.

Currently in Australia, we only recycle half the cardboard we use. Though it is naturally biodegradable, it is much better to keep cardboard out of landfill and recycle it instead. In landfill it produces methane as it breaks down. 

Related Tip
Cardboard can be repurposed into many DIY projects and for kids' crafts. Cereal boxes, for example, can be repurposed to make book covers, musical instruments, toys' houses, and many more projects.

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