WestRock links up with Performance Food Group on pizza box recycling

Atlanta-based containerboard and packaging producer WestRock and Richmond, Virginia-based Performance Food Group (PFG) say they have started working together on a program called Sustainable Choices, which they describe as a recycling education program designed for pizza box customers and pizza consumers throughout the United States.

The foundation of the project is a WestRock study, which was reviewed and endorsed by members of the Washington-based American Forest & Paper Association in 2020. The study was designed to determine whether grease or cheese contamination levels typically associated with pizza boxes impact the finished product quality of corrugated cardboard made with recycled content that includes discarded pizza boxes.

Conclusions from the study indicate corrugated pizza boxes can be recycled with normal levels of residual grease and cheese, the two companies say.

Additionally, a consumer Access Study shows that approximately 73 percent of the U.S. population is estimated to have access to a recycling program that could accept pizza boxes. Of that total, 27 percent of the population is served by programs with explicit acceptance of pizza boxes and 46 percent of the population has access to recycling programs that imply, but do not explicitly state, they accept pizza boxes. The remaining population’s programs either imply or explicitly state they do not accept pizza boxes.

PFG and WestRock have partnered to develop a Sustainable Choices online portal designed to educate restaurant owners and the public on pizza box recycling choices. “Sustainability has long been a guiding principle for us here at PFG,” says Dennis Riffer, president and CEO of Afflink – the division of PFG responsible for the company’s nonfoods business. Afflink, on its website, describes itself as a supplier to “small to medium-sized businesses,” including of packaging materials.

“Aligning with our partners at WestRock on this campaign solidifies our corporate environmental, social and governance strategy in a way that will benefit our restaurant customers and their guests for years to come,” adds Riffer.

The portal features a ZIP code lookup tool where consumers can view their local pizza box recycling guidelines. A QR code on the side of WestRock-manufactured pizza boxes points visitors to the portal website.

“At WestRock, we connect people to products through innovative, sustainable fiber-based packaging,” says Jeff Chalovich, chief commercial officer and president of Corrugated Packaging at WestRock. “The pizza box recycling initiative is another great example of our broad range of digital capabilities and demonstrates how we work with customers and communities to improve the environment.”

In addition to the QR code on the box, participating restaurant owners and operators can display their support through window clings, preprinted stickers and a selection of digital options for their websites or social media, say the two companies.

The goal of the Sustainable Choices program is to increase awareness of pizza box recyclability and encourage pizza box recycling acceptance, in clear language, from municipalities on local pizza box recycling policies, according to WestRock and PFG.