Portland: More on those non-recyclable freezer boxes

In the Portland metro area you cannot recycle any food boxes that are stored in the freezer. That goes for frozen pizza, waffle and popsicle boxes -- even though they might not seem any different from cereal or cracker boxes, which are recyclable. Why can't you recycle these boxes? Because a lot of them contain a chemical called wet-strength that keeps the boxes from falling apart in a cold, moist environment, and wet-strength is a contaminant in Portland's recycling system. Even if the food is also wrapped in plastic, like a frozen pizza, you still cannot recycle the box. Some municipalities don't have this rule; Portland does. A quick search found that Phoenix does not recycle freezer boxes due to wet-strength contamination.

We had one frustrated reader actually contact Amy's, which manufactures frozen foods, and ask if their boxes contain this chemical. The company said no -- their boxes are just made of cardboard, no chemicals. IT DOESN'T MATTER. If you think about the sheer volume and variety of brands of frozen foods, you could not possibly educate a population on which brands are safe to recycle and which brands are not. We can't even get people to stop throwing plastic bags into the recycling roll carts, nevermind school them on freezer boxes! And the thing is, even if you throw your freezer boxes into the roll cart thinking they are safe, the sorters at the materials recycling facility will likely remove them and throw them away. They are trained to follow the rules, as we should. This is why, across the board, frozen food boxes are not recyclable in the Portland metro area. It's possible that will change one day. [UPDATE 2/13/09: I am wrong. Metro will now allow only Amy's frozen food boxes to be recycled curbside. Sorters will not pull them out for trash as they will other frozen food boxes. More info on this in the comments.]

Ideally, frozen food manufacturers would stop using this chemical. I mean, if Amy's truly isn't (and I'm not sure I believe it) [UPDATE: again, I'm wrong and I apologize to Amy's.] and their boxes hold up well, then it would seem that others could follow suit. My family seldom buys frozen foods in boxes (or bags for that matter) with the exception of ice cream (not recyclable). We don't buy it every week, but man, Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra is a sacred cow I'm not ready to give up just yet.

If you have any questions about other items that may or may not be recyclable in the Portland metro area, post it in the comments and Renee and I will put on our Master Recycler hats and try to help. And don't forget you can always call Metro and ask a live person (they know more than we do because they answer these types of questions every day). C'mon, sing it with me: "two-three-four three-oh-oh-oh." 503-234-3000.