SEATTLE (Recycling Monster): The pizza boxes are often contaminated with fats, oils and greases, which make them difficult to recycling using traditional recycling processes. As a result, many of these pizza boxes often ends up in landfills.
The researchers at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have reportedly developed a new method to decontaminate cardboard. This could revolutionize recycling of food containers, especially pizza boxes. The process makes use of material separation capabilities to address residual waste in containers.
Accordingly, broken-down cardboard pieces are mixed with a solvent called dimethyl ether (DME), which will pull the contaminants out of the cardboard. The system then recycles this solvent. The process successfully separates oils, water and dryer solids into distinct components.
The application of this technology to processing of pizza boxes will promote environmental sustainability. The process can be used in various other applications as well, including battery recycling. Thus it could lead to development of innovative waste management solutions across various sectors.
It must be noted that effective pizza box recycling could lead to significant waste reduction in landfills, conservation of natural resources, energy savings, pollution prevention and economic benefits.
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