Why isn't cardboard required to be labeled?

[Anonymous]

The prevalence of plastic coated cardboard really bugs me. The recycling guidelines I have from the city say no frozen food boxes or pizza boxes (I'll tear off the lid of a delivered pizza box as long as the bottom is clean, though) but all kinds of cardboard containers seem to be plastic coated now.

I went to get a lightbulb out and noticed the box (last light bulb) was all shiny. I noticed a torn edge and found I was able to peel all the plastic, with a paper layer it stuck to, off in a few large sections. I think they do the printing on the plastic itself so it's sort of like shrink wrapping the cardboard. What was left was unglazed lightweight cardboard or thick paper, with another layer of glazed paper (i.e. the normal filler they use to make typing paper or magazine paper smooth).

I'm not clear at all to what extent the plastic coatings are a problem--I called once about envelope windows and was told those are fine, So--what's the story and how do you know these days if cardboard is recyclable or not?

[Anonymous]

In Moco, DC and Arlington, you can recycle pizza boxes:
https://thekojonnamdishow.org/2019/02/14/dmv-recycling-questions-answered

[Anonymous]

Bumping because this is starting to piss me off.

I did a bunch of shopping today and just opened a few items--some coated metal shelf organizers (so I can stack more items in pantry closet) and a sheet of material that is supposed to help keep the bottom of my oven clean (I use heavy duty foil currently). The organizers weren't in actual boxes but they did have a cardboard wrap around them for labeling. The oven thing came in a long narrow box.

Both boxes are plastic laminate although I could not peel the laminate away as easily as the box when I first posted this. And I looked up information on laminated cardboard recycling, which is basically that it's a no, the plastic is a contaminant when the material is shredded.

Maybe the laminate reduces tearing somewhat (not a lot, I could tear the stuff pretty easily) and maybe it protects against moisture, but my opinion is that this really is not necessary. Anyway, I do think this cardboard should be labeled non-recyclable.