Dive Brief:

• The Carton Council of North America announced today that carton recycling reached 57% of U.S. households in 2015. 67.1 million households across 48 states can now recycling food and beverage cartons through curbside and drop-off programs. 

• The Council works with many public-private partnerships to add cartons to the list of accepted materials at MRFs, then promote these recycling changes to consumers. To date, over 11,500 community recycling programs have added cartons to their accepted materials lists.
• This upcoming year, The Carton Council hopes to increase recycling rates in markets where carton recycling already exists, and also further carton recycling educational programs in schools and communities. 

Dive Insight:

While cartons are not currently accepted in all curbside recycling programs across North America, The Council Carton is working to get towns and cities on board with carton recycling by ensuring convenience and increased collections volumes.

According to The Carton Council's website, the Council is committed to recycling two types of cartons: shelf-stable (or aseptic cartons, for products like broth or soy milk), and refrigerated (or gable-top, for products like milk and juice). MRFs that are equipped to recover these cartons are able to recycle the material into marketable consumer products such as paper, tissue, and building materials. 

"Our business model is centered on sustainability: from the product and the way it is sourced and produced, to the packaging. We selected cartons because of their environmentally sensitive profile when the entire life cycle is considered,” said Grace Jeon, president and CEO of JUST, in a press statement. "With greater adoption of this sustainable packaging option by manufacturers and consumers, continued progress by the Carton Council and increased education and awareness of carton recycling, we are optimistic about the future of carton recycling access."