How to Recycle - Carton Council

Path 1: Consumer products

The paper mill: Cartons are packed together and sent to a paper mill.

The giant blender: At the paper mill, cartons are added to a large machine called a Hydrapulper – essentially a giant blender – that uses water to break the cartons down into two component parts. The paper is separated and the pulp is used to make paper products, such as paper towels, tissue, office papers, etc. The plastic and aluminum together can be sent on for further recycling, such as producing ceiling tiles or wallboard, or can be used for energy to fuel the paper mill.

All of these cartons are recyclable.

How to recycle: put your food and beverage cartons in the bin. With every carton you recycle, you’re helping make a positive change in society. Recycled cartons don’t become waste in our landfills but rather new products you use every day. Milk, soup, juice, wine and broth are just some of the products packaged in cartons that you’ll find in your nearby grocery store — and they’re all recyclable!

Recycling your cartons is easy

Empty it out: Empty out that unused juice or broth from your carton before recycling.

Toss it in: Toss the carton – without flattening – into your recycling bin along with all your other recyclable containers such as cans and plastic bottles. (pro tip: you can keep the cap on!).

Take ‘em to the curb: On pick-up day, roll your recycling bin out to the curb to be collected.

What happens to cartons after they leave your recycling bin?

Keep on trucking: On pick-up day, recycling trucks throughout the country collect your recyclables and take them to the sorting center.

The big sort: At the recycling sorting center, cartons are separated from other recyclable materials either manually or using infrared technology.

Path 2: Building materials

Recycling at its best: Instead of the paper mill, cartons can also head over to a recycling company that turns cartons into building materials. Fact: About 30 cartons can turn into a single 2’x2’ ceiling tile, while roughly 400 cartons make up each wallboard.

Shred and press: Cartons are shredded into a million pieces, then heat is applied and they are pressed back together into large sheets. (Like a panini press made of shredded cartons!)

An Encore Performance: This is where the magic happens. Your old cartons get a second life as everything from paper towels to ceiling tiles.

Why recycle?

With every carton you recycle, you're helping keep our environment greener.


Paper, aluminum and plastic recovered from recycled cartons save us from depleting our environment’s precious resources and can become new products like napkins, tissue paper, and even building materials. A ton of paper made from recycled fibers instead of virgin fibers conserves 7,000 gallons of water, 17-31 trees, 4,000 KWh of electricity, and 60 pounds of air pollutants.1

1 EIA Report

Why recycle?



Each day, the average American generates more than four pounds of trash.

1. That adds up to more than 200 million tons of garbage each year – enough to fill the Cardinals’ Busch Stadium from top to bottom, twice a day.

2. Despite the fact that about 75% of our waste stream is recyclable1, most of this trash ends up in one of our more than 3,000 landfills, which then releases harmful methane gas that speeds up global warming. Every time you recycle your cartons, you’re taking one important step to reduce landfill waste in our world.

1 11 Facts About Recycling

Why recycle?


Save energy

A little recycling can go a long way. When Americans recycle just 30% of all municipal waste, we save the energy equivalent of 11.9 billion gallons of gasoline. That’s the greenhouse gas equivalent of taking 25 million cars off the road.4 (And surely we can do even better than 30%, can’t we?)

4 EPA Energy Savings


What is a carton?

  • Cartons are a type of packaging for food and beverage products you can purchase at the store. They are easy to recognize and are available in two types—shelf-stable and refrigerated.
  • Shelf-stable cartons for products such as juice, milk, soy milk, soup, broth and wine are found on the shelves in grocery stores.
  • Refrigerated cartons for products such as milk, juice, cream, and egg substitutes are found in the refrigerated section in grocery stores.

What are cartons made from?

  • Cartons are primarily made from paper, with a thin layer of polyethylene (plastic). Shelf-stable cartons contain a layer of aluminum as well, whereas refrigerated cartons do not.

Why cartons?

  • With an average of 94% product and only 6% packaging, cartons use the least amount of materials possible, helping to preserve our Earth’s precious resources. You can find cartons on the shelf, like broths, soups and soy milk, or in the refrigerated section, like milk, creamer and juice.

Where can I recycle cartons?

  • A significant majority of all households in the U.S. now have access to carton recycling. That’s more than 70 million households, across 48 states. To learn whether you are able to recycle cartons in your community, enter your zip code here.

Carton recycling isn’t available in my area yet. Can I mail in my cartons to make sure they’re recycled?

Yes. Our network can recycle them on your behalf. Mailing in your cartons is easy. Step 1: Make sure cartons are empty and dry, with the cap on and any straws removed. Step 2: Address your cartons to one of the following locations closest to you. Include proper postage and write “cartons” on the front of your package.
  • Altogether Recycling, 645 W 53rd Place, Denver, CO 80216
  • Firstar Fiber, 10330 "I" Street; Suite 100, Omaha, NE 68127
  • Tidewater Fiber, 1958 Diamond Hill Road, Chesapeake, VA 23324

How do I recycle cartons?

  • Simply place your cartons in your recycling bin. If your recycling program collects materials as “single-stream,” you may place your cartons in your bin with all the other recyclables. If your recycling program collects materials as “dual-stream” (paper items separate from plastic, metal and glass), please place cartons with your plastic, metal, and glass containers.

Wait, you just said cartons are mostly made of paper. Don’t I want to put them with other paper recyclables?

  • Good question. The answer is no. Once cartons arrive at your local sorting center, they will be sorted separately from the rest of the materials. In the end, as long as all cartons are sorted together, the material will then be recycled.

Do I need to remove plastic caps when recycling my cartons?

  • No. Please place cartons with the cap intact into the bin.

Do I need to rinse my cartons?

  • No, you do not need to rinse your cartons. As long as the carton is empty, it is okay to place in your recycling.

Should I flatten my cartons?

  • No, you should not flatten your carton. Optic sorters used at Material Recovery Facilities have a higher chance of recognizing cartons for proper sorting while containers still retain their 3D shape. This means cartons can be sorted more efficiently in their 3D form and should not be crushed, folded or flattened in any way before entering the recycle bin.

Do recycled cartons become new products?

  • Yes! Recycled cartons are turned into products you use every day, like tissue paper or office paper, or even building materials, like ceiling and roofing tiles. And these “new” products are better for the environment, too. Producing recycled paper creates 74% less air pollution and 35% less water pollution than producing paper from virgin fibers.

Is there a waxy coating on cartons? Isn’t that why they are difficult to recycle?

  • What you may see as wax on a carton is actually a thin layer of polyethylene or plastic, which is recyclable too. Feel free to recycle cartons with this shiny coating.

What happens to the aluminum and plastic left over after the carton recycling process in a paper mill?

  • The aluminum/plastic combination left over can be used in different ways. Some mills are using the material for generating energy; others sell it to plastic manufacturers that use them for lumber board-like materials. In some cases, the material ends up in a landfill. Better solutions for the leftover materials are under consideration. In the case of building materials, the whole carton is used and the carton’s polyethylene plastic becomes the binding that holds the boards together in ReWall’s products.

How many cartons does it take to create building materials?

  • About 30 cartons make up a single 2’x2’ ReWall ceiling tile and approximately 400 cartons make up each 1/2"x4’x8’ ReWall board. Each truckload of ReWall products removes almost 300,000 cartons from the landfill.

Do the building materials really work?

  • Yes! Cartons are great for building materials because they are inherently moisture and mold resistant – just like you want your ceiling and roofing tiles to be.

Who is the Carton Council?

  • We are a group of carton packaging manufacturers united to grow carton recycling in the US. The members of the Carton Council are Elopak, Evergreen, SIG Combibloc, and Tetra Pak, along with associate member Weyerhaeuser.