Finally, Pizza Boxes Fit in the Recycling Bin

There’s nothing more New York than enjoying pizza in Central Park. There’s also nothing more awkward for a New Yorker than trying to fit the box into the waste bin, and it never looks quite right. How does one fit something with four corners into a round hole?

Most New Yorkers aren’t even sure whether that box should be thrown in trash or recycling, and therein come the pizza boxes scattered on streets, beside park benches and stacked against trash cans.

The Central Park Conservancy is testing out a solution: a new recycling bin, designed specifically for pizza boxes. A striking difference in structure from the typical cylindrical bins, the pizza box recycling bin is a large, green rectangular container right in Central Park. In bold white letters, the bin instructs patrons to first empty the pizza box and place all waste in the adjacent trash can. The new installment is a part of the Conservancy’s initiative towards keeping parks clean and rodents away.

Unlike many other cities, New York City actually does have a program that recycles greasy pizza boxes, according to Vincent Gragnani, Department of Sanitation Press Secretary.

“Contrary to what some have heard...we accept [pizza boxes] with residential paper/cardboard recycling or with our curbside composting program, which accepts all food-soiled paper, along with food and yard scraps,” he said.

The bin is located in an area adjacent to the Great Lawn, “close to playgrounds, basketball courts, picnic tables, and the pizzerias surrounding the Park,” a spokesperson from the Conservancy said.

If the weather is nice and the foot traffic is busy enough, the Conservancy said they can remove over 100 boxes in this area of the Park alone.

Last August, containerization requirements went into effect for all food-related businesses in the City, as a part of the “Trash Revolution” and war on rats declared by the Adams administration. The trash that litters NYC streets, Mayor Eric Adams said in a September 2023 announcement, is “aiding and abetting rodents.” Trash overflow is a key cause of our rat problem, according to the Environment & Health Data Portal at nyc.gov.

The “jammed cans” around the Park contribute to the rat problem by attracting rodents directly, the Conservancy said.

“This is just one initiative that the Conservancy is working towards to achieve zero waste in Central Park,” the spokesperson said. “The goal is to differentiate waste streams, recycle more effectively and send less materials to landfill waste.”

By the end of the summer, the Conservancy will evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot program, and see whether or not New Yorkers can see more pizza box recycling bins in their parks. Until then, NYC can expect to see more and more pizza box origami as everyone tries their best to fit a square into a circle.