The Pizza Box Controversey

If there is one thing we do in college, its eat pizza. We eat it at home when cramming for an exam,we eat it when we hang out with friends, and we are even subject to it being used as bait to entice us into attending UIC meetings. Although I have no trouble finding room for pizza in my stomach (especially when its free), there is often trouble figuring out what to do with the empty box. The same issue always arises: IS THE PIZZA BOX RECYCLABLE?? The resulting debate can be enough to tear you away from a sweet pizza induced coma and pull you into a churning, burbling cage fight. For the sake of enjoying your hot slice of heaven to full digestion, let's put this issue to rest.

Pizza boxes have been determined to not be recyclable because of the grease, tomato paste, and cheese that is usually smeared all over the thing. If this is the case DO NOT recycle your pizza box. However, some pizzas come with a cardboard insert that in essence protects the box from the pizza ooze. In this case, throw away the pizza ooze protector disk and recycle the NON-SOILED box. Similarly, you can tear out the soiled segments of cardboard to be disposed of in the trash while recycling the portions that are free from grease, cheese, and other pizza associated flotsam. 

If you are having trouble determining the degree to which your pizza box is soiled, do not recycle it. You can end up doing more bad than good when the cardboard is recycled into other materials. If you still loath the idea of throwing away soiled cardboard, you have another option. You can compost that box as "brown" material!