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Materials / Cardboard

Cardboard

Confirmed

Fully real. 116 tons sold in 2023 for $6,742, about $58 a ton, plus the disposal fee the town didn't pay.

Where it goes

Bin
Flattened corrugated cardboard.
Town data
Recycling center
Baled.
Town data
Casella
Under contract for everything from the drop-off windows, per the manager. Casella's nearest recovery facilities are Rutland, VT and Charlestown, MA.
Manager, in person
New boxes
Corrugated fiber goes back into boxes and packaging.
Background

Solid border: confirmed. Dashed: likely. Dotted: open.

The numbers

Cardboard, 2023
116 tons, $6,742.26, about $58 per ton Town data
Cardboard, 2024
105 tons, $11,151.99, about $106 per ton Town data
Per-ton swing
About $180 in 2023: $58 earned plus about $122 in disposal fees not paid, using the town's own 2024 rate Inference
Fiber limit
Paper fiber recycles about five to seven times before it's too short to use Background

What the records show

Corrugated cardboard has a steady market and the town's numbers show it: 116 tons in 2023, $6,742.26, about $58 a ton. In 2024 the price nearly doubled: 105 tons for $11,151.99, about $106 a ton. Add the roughly $122 a ton in disposal fees that never got paid because the material was sold instead of buried (the town's own 2024 figure), and each ton of cardboard swings the town's books by $180 or more.

Fiber has a limit. Paper and cardboard can be recycled about five to seven times before the fibers get too short to hold together. That's a ceiling, not a failure, and it's why fresh fiber keeps entering the system.

Sources

← MetalPaper →