Carton recycling access expanded to 78.6M households in 2022

As of the start of 2023, 78.6 million U.S. households can recycle food and beverage cartons through local recycling programs.

According to a report from the Carton Council of North America, this figure means that 62 percent of all U.S. households have access to carton recycling. The Denton, Texas-based council says the following communities added cartons to their local recycling programs in 2022:

• DeKalb County, Georgia, and several cities in the Atlanta area;
• Lexington, Kentucky, and 11 surrounding counties;
• Bay County, Michigan;
• Rask County; Minnesota;
• Clinton County, Ohio;
• Jefferson County, Wisconsin; and
• Washburn County, Wisconsin.

“We credit the momentum in carton recycling to our continued approach of working with stakeholders throughout the entire recycling value chain,” says Larine Urbina, vice president of communications for the Carton Council. “Whether it involves working with local communities, end markets, MRFs, schools, local governments or other third-party organizations, we’re focused on continuing our collaborative efforts in 2023.”

RELATED: Carton Council announces grants for community recycling education

According to the Carton Council, an example of collaboration took place in 2022 in Michigan when Great Lakes Tissue, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy as well as the Carton Council joined forces as part of NextCycle Michigan to help improve the state’s recycling and manufacturing infrastructure.

After working with Sustain Dane on its Master Recyclers program in 2021 in Madison, Wisconsin, the Carton Council says it continued to provide support by sponsoring the Sustain Dane Summit and provided a grant in 2022 in conjunction with the Latino Academy of Workforce Development to create a Spanish language and culturally relevant recycling education program for the Latinx community. The Carton Council says it plans to advance the implementation of this program this year.

“As household access [to carton recycling] expanded last year, so did consumer confidence in recycling of cartons,” the council says in a statement. “According to Carton Council commissioned national research, more than half of consumers (55 percent) are confident that food and beverage cartons are definitely accepted via curbside recycling programs, a 7 percent increase from 2020. However, uncertainty remains the number one reason for not recycling them.”

Additionally, the Carton Council awarded three education grants in 2022 to reward accurate and strong communications around carton recycling to Alleghany County, North Carolina; Summit County, Colorado; and Durango, Colorado. Carton Council says its 2023 Community Education Award contest will be expanded to any entity that accepts cartons and educates residents about the local recycling program.

In 2022, the Carton Council also announced several leadership updates, including appointing Carla Fantoni as vice president of engagement strategy; Larine Urbina as vice president of communications; and Lena Zodda as vice president of sustainability and school recycling.

“Looking at 2023 and beyond, the Carton Council is continuing to go full steam ahead to improve carton recycling,” Urbina says. “As we continue our work to increase carton recycling access, as well as participation, we recognize that this is only possible through our strategy of collaboration and working across the full recycling value chain.”

Additionally, the Carton Council says it anticipates announcing new end markets for cartons as well as finding additional carton recyclers to collaborate with to help grow capacity for carton recycling in North America.