Cardboard
Environmental benefits: Along with food, paper and garden cuttings, cardboard accounts for a third of all the waste we produce. 1 tonne of cardboard boxes is the equivalent of 17 trees. Recycling 1 tonne of cardboard saves more than 9 cubic yards of landfill space.
How to recycle: The easiest way to compost leftover cardboard is to empty them into a compost bin in the garden. Otherwise, most boxes and other cardboard packaging can be recycled, but not with other paper like newspapers and magazines. Cardboard that has been used to store food in (eg pizza boxes) shouldn’t be recycled as they will contaminate the other cardboard. Remove all plastic/polystyrene packaging from inside any cardboard packaging and flatten all boxes.
Useful links:
Waste Online. Recycling packaging
Team Green Britain and London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Ltd (LOCOG) do not endorse any of the products, companies, organisations, opinions or websites that have been mentioned in this article. The content of this article has merely been provided as background to, or discussion on, various topical issues relating to the environment and it is not necessarily representative of the views of Team Green Britain and LOCOG. Further, any figures and calculations noted in this article are estimates (unless otherwise specified), and may vary in light of numerous factors and readers are advised to undertake their own research in relation to the facts and figures applicable to their particular circumstance.