Efforts to go green have taken root in schools nationwide. A good example is North Carolina State University. But what exactly sets the campus apart? For one, the university boasts one of the most successful pizza box recycling programs yet, NC State News reported.
Pizza boxes are special waste products as they are made of cardboard but cannot be processed using traditional recycling methods. This is because of the greasy and cheesy bottoms of pizza boxes. Recycling cardboard uses a water-based system and having oily cardboard just does not work.
To address this, the Pizza Box Composting Project was launched. Special dumpsters specifically for pizza boxes were scattered around the campus starting early last year for compost. To date, a total of 16,000 pizza boxes have successfully been turned to fertilizer, Wall Street Journal reported.
Schools around the country are currently engaged in projects and efforts to out-green each other. This is driven, by a large degree, by the collective care for the environment that is coming to define Generation Z, or the generation that comes after Millenials.
There are also other places which have begun processing pizza boxes as a mainstream recyclable material. The Gaston Gazette reported that Gaston County is now accepting pizza boxes, as well as other cartons, in their recycling program.
Even so, pizza box recycling is not so successful in other parts of the country. NCSU has a 34,000-strong student population focused on agriculture and engineering. Being part of Generation Z and having an eco-friendly mindset has made the pizza box recycling efforts more successful here than in other campuses.
Pizza boxes are the second largest contributors of trash in campuses after aluminum cans. It is amazing how much of these boxes get piled up in landfills! And while the US recycles about 63.5% of its paper and cardboard, enough of these materials still make their way to landfills: an astonishing 26,700 football fields filled three feet deep.
One of the biggest problems with pizza box recycling is contamination. Plastic can get shredded along with the cardboard and this can result in having hundreds of little bits of plastic included in the compost. Obviously, non-biodegradable plastic is no good for the compost.
Amy Brooks, whose family runs the composting in NC State, tries to drive the point home. She said, "I hate to sound like 'Oh my goodness, you have to focus when you're composting,' but contamination is a huge problem."
You can do your part in helping ease the amount of trash that goes to landfills. Start your own compost pit or share this article to raise awareness!
