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The Pizza Box Conundrum: Here’s What To Do With Pizza Boxes And Other Things You Want To Recycle

Last summer the city of Greensboro started it's Recycle Right campaign and has since seen a decrease in contaminated recycling bins.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The pizza box often gets confused as something that can't be recycled.

Here’s the thing: each municipality handles pizza boxes differently.

We’ve narrowed down a list of things you can and cannot recycle from local governments in the Piedmont Triad area to help you clear that up:

City of Greensboro:

DO RECYCLE:

Paper: all clean, loose leaf paper, magazines, books, newspaper, cardboard, cartons and chipboard like cereal boxes, pizza boxes without remains.

Plastic: all bottles with the top on, all containers like yogurt cups, juice jugs and large plastic items like buckets.

Metal: Aluminum, steel, tin and aerosol cans with the top off, pots and pans, aluminum foil, pans and trays.

Glass: All jars with the lid off, all bottles.

DO NOT RECYCLE:

Paper: Paper towels, toilet paper, tissues or diapers.

Plastic: Bags, sheets, Styrofoam or hoses.

Metal: cords, auto parts, electronics.

Glass: Mirrors, windows or dishware.

City of High Point:

DO RECYCLE:

Mixed paper: cereal and food boxes, newspaper, office paper, magazines, books, junk mail, phone books, shredded paper, all corrugated boxes, pizza boxes (no food in box)

Plastic: all plastic containers, detergent and drink bottles, butter tubs, jugs (lids and labels accepted)

Metal: aluminum and metal cans emptied and rinsed.

Glass: bottles and jars emptied and rinsed

DO NOT RECYCLE:

Plastic bags, needles, or electronics

City of Winston-Salem:

DO RECYCLE:

Paper: chipboard like dry food boxes, junk mail and office paper, magazines and catalogs, newspaper, telephone books, corrugated cardboard, cardboard milk and juice cartons.

Plastic: bottles and jugs with caps on and rinsed

Metal: aluminum beverage cans, pie tins, foil, steel food cans, beverage cans, aerosol cans

Glass: clear, green and brown bottles and jars without caps or lids and rinsed out.

DO NOT RECYCLE:

Paper: books, pizza boxes, disposable paper plates or napkins

Plastic: plastic bags, motor oil, antifreeze, herbicide, pesticide containers, Styrofoam, plastic toys, deli containers, wide mouth plastic containers like yogurt cups, plastic cups or food trays, rigid plastics like buckets or bins

Metal: wire hangers, batteries, paint cans, pots or pans

Glass: ceramics, dishes, drinking glass or cooking containers, light bulbs, mirrors or window glass

City of Burlington:

DO RECYCLE:

Paper: newspaper, shredded paper, flattened corrugated cardboard, phone books, magazines, junk mail, inserts

Plastic: drink bottles, detergent bottles, yogurt cups, food tubs

Metal: empty aluminum and tin cans

Glass: empty glass bottles and jars

DO NOT RECYCLE:

Paper: pizza boxes, yard waste

Plastic: plastic bags, Styrofoam, bubble wrap

Metal: needles, medical waste, electronics, scrap metal, pots and pans, paint cans

Glass: medical waste, light bulbs, window glass

NOTE: Most local government websites have a waste management site that detail items that can and cannot be recycled.

Last summer the city of Greensboro started it's Recycle Right campaign and has since seen a decrease in contaminated recycling bins.

Only 6,500 of the over 90,000 bins it services have received violation notices as of February.

When they came up with the initiative the Waste Reduction Team had inspected 18,500 recycling containers to try to reduce the amount of non-recyclable items going to the Recycling Center.

The warnings are issued to people who didn't have proper items in their recycling bins. The violations are not a fine - they're intended to remind people of the recycling guidelines.

If you need help recycling, download the GSOCollects app, which provides a search feature to find out what can be recycled.

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