Where do Pizza boxes go?

The old rule that any grease ruins a pizza box has been overstated. Mill testing has found that grease at the levels a normal takeaway box picks up does not measurably harm the pulp, and a growing number of authorities now accept them outright. Food is a different matter: cheese, crusts and sauce are organic contamination that ends up in the bale, and a box with half a pizza left in it fails on the sorting line regardless of the card. Because acceptance is still mixed, this is one to check with your own council — where they say no, tear off the clean upper half for recycling and put the greasy base in food or general waste.

How to prepare it

1. Take out every scrap of food, the little plastic table and the greaseproof liner.
2. Tear off and recycle the clean lid if the base is soaked.
3. Put leftover crusts in the food waste bin.

What not to do

• Never leave food in the box — organic residue contaminates the paper bale, and that is the real failure mode.

Kerbside collection rules genuinely vary by council and county, and local rules always win over general guidance. The reasoning above is what transfers — if your service differs, it will usually be for a reason described here.

Other things that go to kerbside recycling bin

• Aerosol cans Empty aerosols go in the kerbside recycling in most areas. Never pierce them, never crush them, never bin a part-full one.
• Wrapping paper Plain paper: recycle. Foil, plastic-coated or glittery: general waste. The scrunch test settles it.
• Drinks cartons (Tetra Pak) Recyclable, but only where your scheme says so — they need a mill that separates the card from the plastic and foil.
• Aluminium foil and foil trays Recyclable if it is clean. Scrunch it into a ball the size of a fist so the sorters can see it.
• Shredded paper Depends entirely on your council. Loose shreds jam sorting lines; where they are accepted it is usually bagged or in food waste.
• Plastic bottle caps Leave the cap on the empty bottle. That is now the standard advice in most places.
• Envelopes with plastic windows Kerbside paper recycling in most areas — modern pulping screens the window out.
• Black plastic food trays Historically rejected because the optical sorter could not see them. Increasingly accepted now — check your council.