Recycle Extra Cardboard Free Any Time at Festival Foods

Convenient Drop-Off Location is Available

MARSHFIELD, WI (OnFocus) – Got extra cardboard you need to recycle? Festival Foods can help! A cardboard recycling program has been in place at the store for many years, with a free public-facing program offered since 2017.

“We recognized there’s a growing need in the public for cardboard recycling, so in 2017 we bought large bins and started putting them in front of our stores with signage attached indicating the bins were for cardboard recycling,” said Cody Sandahl, Energy & Material Recovery Manager for Festival Foods. “The response from our guests has been excellent.”

The program was created to address the growing need for cardboard recycling in the community. As online shopping has become more popular, the amount of cardboard waste has increased, often overwhelming the curbside recycling bins available in people’s homes. The convenient location of Festival Foods stores provides a solution for people to drop off their excess cardboard.

Sandahl says that any cardboard, paperboard, or other paper products can be dropped off in the recycling bins, as long as they are not contaminated with food or hazardous materials. Festival Foods will take any amount and any size of cardboard, even if someone shows up with a full pick-up truck full of it.

“Since we already had a robust internal cardboard recycling program this was an easy, convenient solution that we could provide our guests and communities,” said Sandahl.

All the cardboard that gets dropped off at Festival Foods stores is mixed in with the cardboard produced in-house and then recycled at a paper mill located in Wisconsin. This process ensures that the cardboard is being recycled locally and not being sent to landfills.

In addition to the cardboard recycling program, Festival Foods also offers a plastic film recycling depot. By providing a drop-off location for these materials, Festival Foods is helping to keep plastic out of landfills.

“Like our cardboard program we have a drop-off bin at the front of every Festival Foods store,” said Sandahl. “The material that can go in these bins cannot be recycled in the curbside programs we have in our State, in fact, plastic film is damaging to the machinery that processes curbside recycling material.”

The plastic films collected at Festival Foods stores are shipped to a recycler called NexTrex. NexTrex turns the material into composite lumber and outdoor furniture. They even offer a program to schools, universities, non-profit and community groups to receive a free bench made from recycled plastic film if they collect enough plastic film within a certain time period. Festival Foods has helped many groups across the state participate in this program and receive the free bench reward. More info can be found here.

Festival Foods is located at 1613 N Central Ave in Marshfield.

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