How to recycle lots of cardboard and packing paper? (Austin: fit in, buy)

[Paulmmm]

My wife and I just moved to Austin and we have over a hundred moving boxes of all sizes, along with a lot of clean paper that we used to pack the boxes with. At least 80 or so are good enough to move on through craigslist, but the rest are just beaten to death or have been cut up, so can't be reused. I was told by our neighbors that recycle is once a week, and everything has to fit in the little blue recycle box that came with the house. But there must be some way to recycle all the other stuff we have, isn't there? If the city can't pick all that up at our house, is there a recycling station that we can drop everything off at? Can someone point me in a good direction here? Thanks!

And I know I've been asking a lot of "I'm new to Austin, so can you help me with ...?" questions over the last couple of months, but I really look forward to learning the lay of the land and being able to actually answer some questions really soon, too.

[Trainwreck20]

Check out the recycling page for the City of Austin:

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/sws/recycling.htm

Specifically:

Corrugated cardboard must be flattened and cut or folded to 2 feet by 2 feet so that it will fit in the truck. Tie the pieces together with string, tape or twine. Solid Waste Services may not collect larger pieces of corrugated cardboard or cardboard that has not been tied into bundles.

We tie ours up in about 2.5 by 2.5 bundles, I would guess, and have never had a problem.

[jhwest]

It may depend on your garbage company. I have Al Clawson and they do not recycle. It is not cost effective for some reason. When I called Al Clawson they referred me to the recycling place. I called them and they told me I could bring my cardboard in for recycling but it's way out by Georgetown or somewhere. What a waste of gas. So now I just leave the cardboard out for the garbage guys. I just feel horrible about that, but I don't really know what else to do.

[andream]

Here's what we did after all our cardboard was left at the curb since we didn't fold and tie it together properly--what a waste of time!

Take it to a local elementary school that has a recycling dumpster in the parking lot--it's used to recycle cardboard and newspaper as a fundraiser. Wish I had known about this before it took me hours just bundling up the boxes...

[Paulmmm]

Originally Posted by andream

Here's what we did after all our cardboard was left at the curb since we didn't fold and tie it together properly--what a waste of time!

Take it to a local elementary school that has a recycling dumpster in the parking lot--it's used to recycle cardboard and newspaper as a fundraiser. Wish I had known about this before it took me hours just bundling up the boxes...

Thanks for the great suggestion, andream. I don't mind driving everything some place as long as it gets recycled (and especially if I'm helping a school raise money). And thanks to everyone else for letting me know about the recycle/trash system. I was so naive, I didn't even realize that I'd be getting charged every month for the size of trash and recycle I put out. I assumed it was just part of the taxes I paid. The things I'm learning as a first-time owner!

[andream]

You can get more blue recycle bins delivered to your home--call the COA. We have 3--they don't charge you for those, BUT you are charged for the size of trash cart you have.

[fil]

Check to see if your moving company offers a free reclaim service.

A1 Freeman had a pick up service for us to use after they moved us.

They get money for the recycled boxes and packing paper.

[muddaerf]

In this day and age of environmental concern, I suggest selling your boxes on Craigslist so they can be reused! I read about this once in a magazine and thought it was a great idea.

Plain and simple, moving boxes are expensive and dumpster diving for them is a pain. I suggest selling them on Craigslist or if you are in need of something (if you recently moved here there are probably lots of things you can think of), you can set up a trade for them on Craigslist as well (i.e., will trade 10 small U-Haul moving boxes for two plastic storage tubs, etc. etc.).

Just a thought!

[edr512]

those paper retriever "dumpsters" are not for cardboard. This is taken from the Paper Retriever website, They do:
* Newspapers
* Magazines
* Mail
* School & Office Papers
* Catalogs

"No Cardboard – We do not accept cardboard in any of our Retriever bins. We supply our mills with the
recycled fiber we collect through the Retriever program to create new newsprint. Cardboard should not beused in making newsprint due to the excessive bleaching required. "

*So check the side of the container to see what they accept. Your best luck will most likely be downtown Austin, at Ecology Action (707 East 9th Street - 9th @ I35 - (512) 322-5129 - Ecology Action | Ecology Action of Texas (http://www.ecology-action.org/index - broken link) ). They take most types of "end of life" plastics, papers, cardboards...or tell you the best way to take care of the stuff that they are unable to take.
end of life refers to items that are not immediately re-usable, what some might call trash. bottles, cans, old boxes, etc.

*Some shipping stores, like The UPS Store, will reuse or pass on boxes or cardboard plank that is in decent condition. Packing peanuts that aren't full of dirt from being swept from the garage floor or pulverized into synthetic snow. Styrofoam plank, not the stuff that is really molded to fit the object it was made to protect, but large flat pieces. Clean Packing Paper, even if its crumpled up. Mainly stuff that can be RE-USED in the packing process.

**If anyone has any good advice on getting rid of old Televisions that are only partially working or not at all??? Let's hear it. Supposedly, Best Buy to take in specific brand types under 32 inches for free?

[10scoachrick]

**If anyone has any good advice on getting rid of old Televisions that are only partially working or not at all??? Let's hear it. Supposedly, Best Buy to take in specific brand types under 32 inches for free?
ed,
It might be more effective to start a new thread addressing your specific question. When folks see this thread is 2 1/2 years old(and about paper), they might not read your television recycling question. Just sayin'.