There are two types of materials that the general public terms “cardboard.”. What kind of material is cardboard made out of? Encouragingly, 70 percent of all corrugated cardboard is recovered for recycling-making it the largest source of waste paper collected for recycling. are shipped in corrugated cardboard boxes. Today over 90 percent of all products in the U.S. What happens to corrugated cardboard in the US? What happens to cardboard when you recycle it?Ĭardboard, like newspaper is a recycling success story. The more surface area the cardboard has exposed to water and biological decomposers, the more efficiently these decomposers can take the cardboard apart. Ripping or shredding a piece of cardboard and mixing these pieces with viable soil will result in much faster biodegradation.

What can you do to make cardboard decompose faster? In fact, cardboard packaging can be recycled 5 to 7 times! Question: Is this cardboard box recyclable? Answer: YES, cardboard is built to be recycled. How many times can you recycle cardboard? As a result, it will take up unnecessary space and contribute to global warming as well. If you don’t recycle cardboard, then it will end up in landfill and increase the amount of Methane that is released into the atmosphere. Since cardboard is biodegradable, it produces Methane (the greenhouse gas) as it breaks down. This can be quicker if it has been subjected to extreme weather conditions such as heavy rain, which will cause it to erode away. Untreated cardboard will take less time to break down, usually within a year or two. On average, a piece of heavily processed cardboard will take about 5 years to decompose. How long does buried cardboard take to decompose? The cleaned pulp is now dried and pressed to form long sheets. This recycled pulp is then mixed with a small proportion of new pulp made from wood chips. This involves crushing the cardboard into tiny pieces and mixing it with water and chemicals that will turn it into a pulp. It’s also made into more corrugated cardboard. When recycled, cardboard is used to make chipboard like cereal boxes, paperboard, paper towels, tissues and printing or writing paper. Depending on where cardboard is recycled, however, the home or property owner may have to sort the recyclables before the recycling program will pick them up. Once a piece of cardboard is thrown into a recycling bin or dropped off at a recycling facility, it is sorted by the recycling company by material type. Where does cardboard go after it is thrown away? In a home garden, cardboard used as mulch – shredded and soaked with water – the cardboard can decompose rather quickly and be completely broken down by microorganisms within 3 months. It can take years if it is packed tightly in sheets with little surface area exposed to the elements, as in landfills. 6 What happens to corrugated cardboard in the US?.5 What happens to cardboard when you recycle it?.

4 Is cardboard bad for the environment?.3 How long does buried cardboard take to decompose?.

2 Where does cardboard go after it is thrown away?.

Does cardboard decompose