Two thousand thirteen marked a year of significant expansion of carton recycling. Thanks to collaborative industry efforts and support from communities nationwide, 48% of U.S. households now have access to carton recycling. Meeting the Carton Council of North America’s (CartonOpportunities.org) goals for 2013, access increased by 16.4% and expanded from 43 to 45 U.S. states.

The Carton Council, a group of carton manufacturers united to deliver long-term collaborative solutions in order to divert valuable cartons from the landfill, credits this exceptional growth to voluntary private and public collaboration that includes industry companies and organizations, recycling facilities and local governments. Since 2009, the Carton Council has focused efforts on building infrastructure and improving access to carton recycling nationwide. At that time, just 18% of U.S. households had access to carton recycling. Currently, 56.1 million U.S. households have access to recycle cartons.