Juice Box Problem

THE JUICE BOX PROBLEM:

• A typical shelf-stable juice box carton averages 74% paper, 22% plastic, and 4% aluminum. 
• Because of this composite design, an expensive and energy intensive technology called "hydrapulping" is required to properly recycle them. Many areas do not have these machines.
• Juice boxes are also hard and expensive to sort amongst other recycled items, therefore most juice boxes end up in the landfills. Most studies show them recycled at only 5-15% rate; the leading producer, Tetra Pack, claims that that 27% of juice boxes were recycled in 2021.
• When juice boxes are "recycled", the materials recovered cannot create new cartons and are used mainly for building materials. 
• BUT, aluminum cans are infinitely recycled at a whopping 70% rate nationally and even higher in many areas. AND they go right back into creating new aluminum cans. They are also the cheapest and easiest type of recycling to sort due to their magnetism. 
• The Big Picture: It is still significantly cheaper to produce new plastic than to recycle or reuse plastic and the petroleum industry plans to keep it this way. That is why cutting as much plastic out of our purchasing, especially in grocery stores, is key!
• Read More Here and Here.