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I’m an Amazon and Costco/sams club fan so boxes are taking over my garage. Is there n easy wy to dispose of these or is fattening them and putting them out for city to handle as they will in my town?
Some co-ops and organic food grocers will accept used cardboard boxes and paper shopping bags. Otherwise, recycling them through your city trash collection's recycle program is probably the only option.
I LOVE my Amazon boxes, use them for organization, cut them down shorter to use on pantry shelves, cut them up to use in garden for weed suppression, then cover with mulch (been doing this before Amazon existed).
Our trash pickup has separate container for recycled material or if you have enough cardboard you can make a trip to the city center and drop cardboard into the giant metal bin. We did just after moving here 5 years ago.
For good sturdy moving boxes I advertised then as "free" on NextDoor and Facebook Marketplace. This is the time of year people start moving. Got rid of quite a few back them.
I’m an Amazon and Costco/sams club fan so boxes are taking over my garage. Is there n easy wy to dispose of these or is fattening them and putting them out for city to handle as they will in my town?
As twinkletwinkle22 said, use in garden for weed suppression. Flattened cardboard makes great bases for garden paths -- lay it down and cover with gravel or mulch. Can also be used in your compost pile.
Remove the plastic address stickers, etc., and all the tape before use.
This thread is a great example of being mindful about the ease and convenience of online shopping, and aware of the waste it generates. Do you really need to order something from Amazon every other day? There's a poster here who proudly stated that he ordered from Amazon something like 250 times in the past year...that's a helluva lot of cardboard. How about once a week or better, so the shipper can consolidate packages as much as possible.
I get smothered in cardboard packaging at work, it's unavoidable and I don't like it. I reuse as much as I can and use it for painting or other messy projects. When I have too much I post it on Facebook, sometimes people come and take it away.
There is no recycling in my area. It's better to reuse it anyway, and cardboard is great for garden use like others posted.
I’m an Amazon and Costco/sams club fan so boxes are taking over my garage. Is there n easy wy to dispose of these or is fattening them and putting them out for city to handle as they will in my town?
Depends where you live. You might want to call 311 and get advice.
(assuming that you live in Dallas)
Places like the Texas Recycling Public Buy Back Center pay money for corrugated cardboard. It is always best to separate the cardboard from other paper.
Dallas accepts cardboard for recycling, including shipping boxes, paper egg cartons, 12-pack drink cartons, and cereal boxes. You can also recycle other paper items, such as office paper, window envelopes, magazines, catalogs, paper back books, phone books, and brown paper bags. You can put all of your recyclables in your recycling roll cart together, but you should not bag them. https://www.texasrecycling.com/facil...y-back-center/
You can also recycle cardboard at the Community Drop Off Center, which is free for individuals to drop off.
Here are some tips for recycling cardboard:
- Separate the cardboard from other paper.
- Remove materials like packing tape, polystyrene inserts, or void fill from cardboard packaging.
- Check your online shopping boxes for staples or stitching – these might need to be removed prior to recycling.
- Do not recycle soiled cardboard that contains food, paint, or dirt.
My friend, who is Amazon Vine member and has tons of stuff delivered to his home, periodically bring all his cardboard boxes to Texas Recycling Public Buy Back Center and get paid by weight.
You can call Texas Recycling at (214) 357-0262 for more information about their industrial and commercial recycling programs
Gardening centers use them--great way to organize the pints and 4-packs that people buy. Maybe go around to some locally owned ones and see if they want any?
Otherwise as others said, reach out to a local gardening club or a 'buy nothing' group and see if anyone wants them. They can be broken down and used to suppress weeds.
And next time...reuse the ones you brought home last time. Put them in your car and bring them back to costco with you. Or bring reusable bags and skip the cardboard entirely. I've been a costco member for years and have maybe used one flat box in that entire time. I have reusable bags and I bag up my purchases after checkout.
Some good ideas listed above-- particularly about use in gardens for weed suppression because the box can eventually break down and improve the soil.
But keep in mind that in general, re-use/re-purpose only prolongs the life of the box without actually dealing with its disposal. It'll still eventually need disposal.
Re-cycling has its limits. The paper fibers degrade with the re-processing and the new paper is only good for limited things like napkins, toilet paper or cheap envelopes-- then they'll need to disposed. They can't be recycled again. I had the misfortune of cleaning out the house of a horder uncle who passed away. After four PU truck loads of flattened boxes, the St Vinnie's donation center refused further donations. There's a limit to the market.
Paper &. cardboard are made of 100% truly recyclable material-- wood. There's nothing wrong with burning it if the smoke won't bother your neighbors. The wood is part of the active carbon cycle, so it doesn't affect CO2 levels.
In the bigger scheme of things, using boxes improves the efficiency of. shipping, saving fuel and keeps foresters et al working etc. But as noted above, improving your own efficiency of ordering things (ie- conservation) may help the most.
I get a lot of things from Amazon so end up with scads of different sized boxes. I use the appropriate ones to double-box art pottery for shipment to buyers. I also use some to store loose rolling stock for my HO-scale trains. Large Chewy boxes go in the garden for weed suppression, and the rest goes into the recycling bin each week.
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