AT On... Mail-In Recycling?

Just when we thought we'd seen everything, this polystyrene egg carton came along. Printed inside the lid in all caps: "IF YOU WANT TO RECYCLE THIS CARTON WE HAVE SOME GOOD NEWS!"

The "good news," apparently, is that you can indeed recycle the Styrofoam carton. All you have to do is mail it back to a packaging plant in either California or Washington.

We know from last week's post on coffee cups the light weight of styrofoam makes it less carbon-intensive to transport than paper, but throwing it away, and knowing it will take forever to decompose just feels bad. And we're committed to being green, but we're reluctant to stand in line at the post office in order to mail our garbage.

So, what to do with this? Keep it around (where?) until we've got a few more and need to go to the PO anyway? Buy eggs in a paper carton instead, which is more carbon-intensive, but which we can easily recycle or compost?

Comments (4)

Freecycle them to a neighbor with chickens or just ask around. There's usually someone that raises chickens that can make good use of the cartons. I bring mine back to the farmers market where they are always needed.

posted by Don in Maine on September 22nd 2008 at 1:56pm
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I do that too! The little organic market at the end of our street actually has a collection area for egg cartons and those green paper produce cartons - as long as they still hold eggs, the farmers can use them again!

posted by SisterRae on September 23rd 2008 at 9:19am
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I agree with both of the above, but wouldn't it make more sense to just buy paper or cardboard egg cartons?

Why are we OK with Styrofoam still being used anyway?

www.thebitterfoodie.blogspot.com

posted by thebitterfoodie on September 23rd 2008 at 10:17am
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I buy eggs at the Farmer's market. The farmer is always happy to take the cartons back for reuse. They will even take cartons that didn't originally come from their stand.

I like this method because I only ever have one carton in my apartment at a time. When it is empty, it's time to buy more eggs so I just take it back when I go to the Market.

posted by The Green Cat on September 23rd 2008 at 10:18am
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