The City of Davis announced today that its franchise waste hauler, Recology Davis, is now piloting a drop-off program to collect cartons for recycling.  

A new bin has been added next to the large metal dumpsters outside Recology’s Recycling Center, located at 2727 Second St., to allow residents and businesses to drop-off a variety of cartons for recycling that is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The existing dumpsters allow residents and businesses to drop off cardboard, scrap metal, paper and other recyclables.

Cartons that are now accepted for recycling drop-off include both gable-top styles (the traditional paperboard “milk carton” that needs to be refrigerated even before being opened) that are made from thick paper-lined material with plastic film and aseptic styles (juice boxes, broth containers and other shelf-stable cartons that do not require refrigeration until after they are opened) that are made from thick paper lined with plastic and aluminum. While cartons are not accepted in curbside and commercial Recology recycling carts for collection yet, this is a big step forward.

“We are excited to partner with the City in this pilot program for carton recycling,” said Recology Davis General Manager Justina Vega. “This is a great opportunity to further resource recovery efforts in the City of Davis and serves as another step toward Recology's vision of a world without waste.”

Cartons are becoming more and more popular as a packaging product, and the City and Recology have been looking for ways to keep them out of the landfill. While non-shelf stable (a.k.a. “refrigerated”) cartons have been accepted in organics carts since Davis’ first organics pilot program started in 2012, the new composting facility at the Yolo Landfill has recently found that they are not decomposing, coming through the composting system fully intact. 

“Once the City learned that cartons were not breaking down at the composting facility, staff began looking for alternative ways to divert cartons from the landfill,” says City of Davis Mayor Josh Chapman. “Davis has always been at the forefront of recycling, and we hope that Davis residents will help in this effort to properly sort and bring cartons to the recycling center.” 

A local drop-off recycling program is the first step in getting cartons out of the trash. All recyclables collected by Recology Davis are hand sorted here in Davis at the Recology Recycling Center, but the facility does not have space along the sorting line to add another bunker for collecting cartons. Major renovations to the sorting line would need to take place in order for that to happen. Recology will be pilot testing the carton drop-off recycling program to determine the level of participation and volume collected. Cartons can be recycled into building products, as well as paper products such as tissue paper and paper towels. A new facility will be coming to the region next year that will be able to shred, crush and meld together entire cartons for make roofing tiles and other construction materials.  

Press contact: Barbara Archer, barcher@cityofdavis.org, 530-400-3418