What do disposable coffee cups and milk cartons have in common? Both are recyclable.
Both are made of basically the same thing: strong paper with a very thin coating of plastic film. The plastic separates from the paper fibers when the cartons and cups are reprocessed for manufacture into recycled-content paper.
Give them a quick rinse and toss them in your recycling cart.The same kind of paper is used to make take-out food cartons, so you can recycle them, too.
Only clean take-out cartons can be recycled. Rinse them out so there’s no food residue left. Otherwise, put dirty ones in the garbage. Brown paper/cardboard take-out food boxes should also be rinsed and recycled.
Never put coated-paper items in your food and yard waste cart. The plastic film prevents them from breaking down into compost.