Cardboard
Did you know…?
- The average American uses seven trees a year for paper, wood, and other products, which amounts to about 2,000,000,000 trees per year!
- Each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7,000 gallons of water.
- The 17 trees saved can absorb 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air each year.
- The construction cost of a paper mill designed to use waste paper is 50-80% less than the cost of a mill using new pulp.
- Over 90% of all products shipped in the US are in corrugated boxes, which totals more than 400 billion square feet of cardboard.
Corrugated refers to those boxes where the material is made from three separate layers of paper: two liners, and a corrugated, or wavy, layer sandwiched between them. Brown paper bags are commonly accepted cardboard for recycling, as are paper egg cartons and cardboard rolls from paper towels and toilet paper. It does not include waxed cardboard (commonly used for produce), paperboard (flat rigid paper from beverage, cereal, tissue, or other boxes), or other fiber materials.
NOTE: Waxed boxes and boxes with food waste or oil are detrimental to the recycling process and should not be recycled.
Corrugated cardboard is most commonly recycled into materials to produce new corrugated containers. It can also be mixed with other fibers to create paperboard. It is most commonly sold as a baled commodity. In 2022, Taos County baled and sold 167,700 pounds of cardboard for recycling, which saved approximately 152.5 cubic yards in the landfill.
Edward Martinez (Director, Solid Waste), Lorenzo Gutierrez (Code Compliance & Recycling), and Feather with the county baler.
Cardboard is one of the easiest materials to collect because citizens can quickly recognize it. Boxes are considered bulky and are usually separated from trash after they are emptied. Businesses generate enormous amounts of corrugated cardboard, which can boost recycling efforts tremendously by bringing it to the operations center on Highway 64 at 40 Landfill Road.
There are several businesses that already recycle with the county! Thank you!
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For information on commercial recycling in Taos County, contact:
- Daniel.Young@taoscountynm.gov (575) 779-4938
- Lorenzo.Gutierrez@taoscountynm.gov (575) 779-8941