Image of recycling bin with stacks of pizza boxes on top and image of bin made for pizza boxes
Patti McConville/Alamy Stock Photo (Trash Can); Gayoung Lee for Scholastic (Recycling Bin)

Pizza Box Recycling

Read a short science news article with a bar graph about NYC's pizza box solution

By Gayoung Lee
From the September 2025 Issue

Patti McConville/Alamy Stock Photo (Trash Can); Gayoung Lee for Scholastic (Recycling Bin)

PROBLEM (left)Pizza boxes don’t fit in trash cans.

SOLUTION (right)This new recycling bin has an extra-wide opening for pizza boxes.

People in New York City love pizza so much that it’s causing a problem: a pizza box pileup! Visitors to the city’s famous Central Park often bring pizza to eat outside. Greasy boxes left on the ground create litter and attract rats. But the leftover boxes are too big to fit in regular trash cans and recycling bins.

In the spring of 2024, the organization in charge of the park introduced a solution—recycling bins specially designed for pizza boxes! Each bin holds up to 50 pizza boxes in a single tidy stack.

The bins worked! In the summer of 2025, 15 more bins were placed around the park. Now New Yorkers can enjoy their pizza and help keep the park litter free!

Activities (2)
Answer Key (1)
Text-to-Speech