Kingston mayor Steven Noble has announced that the City of Kingston, in collaboration with the Climate Smart Kingston Commission and in recognition of Earth Day, has launched a recycling awareness campaign.
In Kingston, pizza boxes are one of the top three paper recycling contaminants because they often contain grease and food particles. Even if the cardboard doesn’t appear to have grease stains, all pizza boxes should be disposed of in the garbage tote. The better to educate the community, the City of Kingston has partnered with several restaurants citywide, including Pie for the People, Vincenzo’s, 440 Pizza, Broadway Pizza, Savona’s Plaza Pizza, Savona’s Trattoria, King’s Pizza Restaurant, Tony’s Pizzeria and Kingston Bread + Bar, who will include a sticker on their pizza boxes with recycling information.
“We know it may be counterintuitive to place cardboard in the garbage, so we are informing the public by going straight to the pizza box itself,” said Mayor Noble. “In fact, one pizza box can contaminate an entire truckload of paper recycling, so it’s important the community be aware that these boxes are a non-recyclable material. Additionally, most frozen pizza cartons are wax-coated and should also be placed in the garbage.”
“It was a pleasure to work on this community outreach education campaign,” said Climate Smart Kingston Commissioner Melissa Iachetta. “The pizza-box stickers are just the start of creating a dialogue, debunking misconceptions and correcting ‘wishcycling’ in our city. I encourage everyone to support the businesses that are participating; we are truly grateful for their help, time and commitment to this issue.”
Climate Smart Kingston has also been working on an Earth Day Pledge Campaign, where residents can pledge to one (or more) of five Earth-saving efforts: to use less electricity, go meatless once a week, start composting, stop wishcycling and/or reduce water usage.
More recycling information, best practices and frequently asked questions can be found at https://kingston-ny.gov/recycle.
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