Ice Cream Cartons
- DON’T put these cartons into curbside recycling
- DON’T compost them because they usually lined with a plastic film
About These Items
Ice cream and other frozen treats often come in these paperboard cartons. They are lined with polyethylene (PE) plastic inside to help the container with stand its contents and the freezer environment. These cartons are not accepted in the City of Pittsburgh’s curbside recycling.
Unfortunately, due to the PE lining, these cartons require a specialized recycling process different than that used for unlined paper products. The city’s recycling materials processor does not have the equipment for this process and the city’s single-stream curbside format makes it hard to separate these items for alternative processing.
Because they are include a plastic liner, they are also not good candidates for home composting.
Better Than Plastic?
Despite not being recyclable locally, these paper cartons do have some environmental advantages over plastic alternatives– they are often made of a high percentage of recycled paper and they will breakdown faster in the environment. However, the plastic coating used inside means when these boxes do biodegrade, they can leave behind plastic that enters the soil and water. However, the plastic gallon bucket containers are accepted in the city’s curbside recycling program.
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