What happens if New Yorkers don't break down their cardboard boxes?
New Yorkers urged to break down cardboard boxes
The Department of Sanitation is reminding New Yorkers that they are required to break down and tie up cardboard boxes before placing them at the curb. Failure to do so can result in fines, particularly for apartment buildings where improperly discarded boxes can attract pests like rats. FOX 5 NY's Sharon Crowley has the story.
NEW YORK CITY - Have you ever stopped to think about how many cardboard boxes come into and out of your home every week? Well, the NYC Department of Sanitation knows the answer – it's a lot.
New Yorkers have been steadily increasing the number of cardboard boxes they toss out in the trash.
"So, we're certainly seeing, by some accounts, up to almost 100 lbs of cardboard per household per year set out at the curb now," said Joshua Goodman, deputy commissioner of Public Affairs and Customer Experience with the New York City Department of Sanitation.
What some New Yorkers don't seem to know is that you have to break the boxes down and tie them up before putting them out in the trash.
An apartment building can get a summons from the city if the cardboard boxes aren't broken down.
"The amount of cardboard that the average New Yorker is bringing into their home and then consequently putting at the curb has been increasing steadily for many decades really, since the rise of e-commerce," Goodman said.
So now that we're using and tossing all this cardboard out, what happens to it? Well, some of it goes on a barge to Staten Island eventually.
"Everything goes into this super-hot water bat," Goodman said. "Impurities are skimmed off the top."
While recycling cardboard boxes is relatively easy, the city says it's only made possible after the boxes are broken down. It can be a nuisance when New Yorkers skip that step or leave it up to someone else to do.