This New Domino’s Box Settles The Argument of Whether or Not You Can Recycle it

Imagine the scene: After you and and your partner enjoy a margarita pizza and a bottle of wine, you stare at the empty, greasy box and discuss what to do with it. You believe you should put the box in the recycling bin; they’re worried that all the leftover cheese and oil on the cardboard will contaminate the recycling system. You both want to do the right thing, but it isn’t entirely clear what that is. Perhaps the discussion ends amicably, perhaps it does not.

This same post-pizza conversation happens across the country. Two years ago, Domino’s announced that its pizza boxes were recyclable–but there was a catch. Only 73% of the population has access to a curbside recycling program that accepts these empty boxes, and it takes time and effort to research whether your municipality is one of them. This has left many consumers confused.

Domino’s wants to clear things up for its customers. It has started rolling out redesigned pizza boxes that replace its iconic domino logo with the words “Recycle This Pizza Box.” Importantly, the box also features a QR code that takes you to a website where you can input your zip code to see the exact regulations in your neighborhood. The $17.8 billion pizza delivery giant hopes this will nudge consumers to change their behavior, but it is unclear how well it will work.While some consumer brands, like Colgate, have had to redesign their packaging to make them recyclable, clean pizza boxes have always been accepted by recyclers, so Domino’s hasn’t had to change the structure. The issue is that for a long time, recycling facilities forbid pizza boxes because they believed the grease from the pizza would affect the quality of the recycled content.But as Fast Company has reported, Domino’s box supplier, WestRock, wanted to test this assumption. In 2020, it commissioned a study in which is put extremely dirty boxes—where grease made up 20% of the cardboard’s weight—into the recycling stream. Ultimately, the boxes made it through the system with no loss in the strength of the paper. And most pizza boxes don’t actually have that much grease in them at all, averaging only 1% to 2% of the weight. In recent years, local policies have started to change.Domino’s goal is to get this message out to consumers. The Sustainable Packaging Coalition has found that there are little things brands can do to nudge them in right direction. For instance, consumers are less likely to recycle a package if it is crumpled or torn after use, so creating boxes that preserve their original shape can help. And brands can make consumers feel more confident about recycling by providing clear, consistent instructions on a prominent part of the packaging.