Dear Recycler,
Yes, you were given correct information, even though it sounds a little strange. In a previous column we said to put these items in with cardboard. Actually, cereal and toothpaste boxes, candy and frozen dinner boxes (not waxed), shoe and tissue boxes and other similar type boxes should be recycled with office paper! All these boxes are all made of the recyclable material called paperboard; a material similar in shape and composition to paper, but generally thicker, stronger, and more rigid. Earth911.com stated that “paperboard items have one layer while corrugated cardboard has three layers –two flat pieces sandwiched around a middle wavy layer.” Actually, we use lots of paperboard products every day, ones that we all may have previously put in with cardboard or in the trash. It seems weird at first to put a cereal box in with office paper, but I know we will all soon adapt to this new way of thinking about paperboard boxes.