The cities of Dallas and Fort Worth both say that cardboard left out for bulk trash pickup ends up in the landfill. Photo by John Kent.
May 2, 2025
E-commerce is burying us in boxes.
Each month during bulk-waste pickup week, you may notice piles of corrugated containers rising on the curbs in front of homes in your neighborhood. Maybe you’ve put a few boxes out there yourself.
The good news is that cardboard is among the easiest materials to recycle. The bad news? For most DFW municipalities, every cardboard box left on the curb for bulk-waste pickup goes directly to the landfill, never to be recycled.
The region’s two biggest cities are looking to public-education efforts to turn things around.
BREAKING IT DOWN
A 2019 study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory showed that cardboard was the second-most landfilled paper product in Texas, narrowly trailing compostable paper. Since then, the growth of e-commerce in the U.S. has accelerated from $570 billion a year to an estimated $1.3 trillion in 2025. Much of that added merchandise lands on our porches in cardboard boxes.
When the time comes to part with those corrugated containers, deconstructing them and dropping the pieces into your recycling cart ensures their reabsorption into the manufacturing stream. Unfortunately, not everybody is paddling up that creek.
A 2019 study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory showed that cardboard was the second-most landfilled paper product in Texas, narrowly trailing compostable paper.
Residents are encouraged to break down cardboard boxes and place in recycling bins. Both Dallas and Fort Worth also offer drop off stations where you can take large boxes to be recycled. Photo by John Kent.
“We encourage everyone to break down their boxes and place them into their recycle roll carts. It’s a small but necessary step that can make a big difference in our recycling efforts,” said Marcos Estrada, manager of Outreach and Communications for the City of Dallas Sanitation Services.
Lola McCartney, communications coordinator for the City of Fort Worth’s Environmental Services Department, reinforces Estrada’s message.
“Residents are encouraged to flatten, break down or cut up cardboard to fit in the blue [recycling] bins.”
If the boxes are too big to stuff into a cart, or too stout to break apart, there’s another solution.
“Any oversized recyclable items, including cardboard boxes, can also be brought to any of the city’s four Drop-Off Stations for recycling,” she said.
She reiterated that bypassing your recycling bin and placing items in a bulk-waste pile condemns everything to the landfill. In Dallas, residents may take their extra recycling to transfer stations, where large dumpsters are ready to swallow oversize cardboard and other recyclables.
“Residents are encouraged to flatten, break down or cut up cardboard to fit in the blue [recycling] bins,” said Lola McCartney, communications coordinator for the City of Fort Worth’s Environmental Services Department.
KNOW YOUR COLLECTION SERVICES
Whether residents of Dallas, Fort Worth and other Metroplex cities are getting the message about all this isn’t entirely clear, as mounds of boxes continue to collect on curbs throughout the region every month. In the hope of reversing the trend and educating residents about recycling and garbage protocols in general, Fort Worth has launched a consciousness-raising effort called the Rethink Waste Campaign.
“The goal of the campaign is to bring awareness to our residents of the different curbside, residential collection services — garbage, recycling, yard waste and bulk waste — provided in Fort Worth, and to educate them on the proper disposal for each type of waste stream while promoting waste diversion and the three R’s: reduce, reuse and recycle,” McCartney said.
Information about the campaign can be found on the Keep Fort Worth Beautiful website, the KFWB newsletter and on social media platforms. The city also is considering a broader, more active information push to get the word out.
For now, Dallas is not engaged in a similar awareness campaign, but is working nonetheless to spread the message through a variety of communication channels.
“We have noticed a rise in the amount of cardboard being left out for brush and bulky item collection, which is likely due to the increase in online shopping. While we don't have a campaign specifically targeting cardboard in brush and bulk collections, we do address the issue through social media and discussing the importance of recycling cardboard at events and other public settings,” Estrada said. “We're focused on ensuring that no recyclable cardboard ends up being wasted in our landfills as we aim for even more efficient recycling practices.”
LANDFILL LIFE
Diverting recyclable materials to landfills curtails the landfills’ longevity, introducing both environmental and economic costs. A new landfill runs about $500,000 per acre. With landfills averaging 600 acres apiece, taxpayers would be on the hook for an estimated $300 million to purchase one and initiate operations. A study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that landfilled cardboard in the U.S. represents $4 billion in lost economic value. And though it is biodegradable, decomposing cardboard in landfills emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
Still, Estrada cites a North Texas Council of Governments study showing that cardboard waste is so far stressing local landfills only mildly.
“However, even though it represents a fraction, every bit of waste reduction counts. We are committed to taking every effort to minimize waste in general. By diverting recyclable materials like cardboard from the landfill, we not only promote recycling but also extend the longevity of our landfill sites, ensuring they serve the community efficiently for longer,” he said.
Fort Worth officials acknowledge the rise in cardboard-box volume, but say that its specific effect on landfills has not been measured.
“Since materials are not source-separated at the landfill, there are no quantified amounts for cardboard. [But] all material diverted from landfill helps to preserve landfill space,” McCartney said.
In addition to cardboard, other easily recycled materials that end up in landfills include glass, plastics, metals and paper products, she said.
BULK TRASH BUSTERS
Unrecycled cardboard isn’t the only waste issue confronting Dallas and Fort Worth. Even though both cities urge residents not to put cardboard out with bulk-trash (Fort Worth) or brush and bulky items (Dallas) — the practice is reluctantly allowed.
Administrators from both cities say what really gums up the works is the prohibited co-mingling of waste, as when items like construction debris, paint and electronics are tossed onto a pile of brush. Such mixing can result in large volumes of otherwise recyclable material being transported instead to the landfill.
“The city encourages its residents to properly source-separate all items for disposal, and to be consistent with the city’s rule for yard waste and bulk waste,” McCartney said.
Administrators from both cities say what really gums up the works is the prohibited co-mingling of waste, as when items like construction debris, paint and electronics are tossed onto a pile of brush.
ONLINE SHOPPING TREND
Online shopping has increased the amount of cardboard thrown out by residents on trash day. Photo by john Kent.
Both cities appear equipped to manage the additional workload posed by the proliferation of shipping boxes, though the systems can be strained at times.
“While there's some visible evidence that the increase in cardboard from online shopping has slightly impacted our bulk-trash collections, it doesn't significantly affect the process on a large scale by itself,” Estrada said. “However, when combined with other non-compliant items that shouldn't be in the pile — like additional excess trash — it does lead to slower collection times. More notably, cardboard, being lightweight, can easily be blown away by the wind, raising the risk of litter. The [Dallas] program is really designed for vegetative waste and oversized items that don't fit in the residential roll carts, not for cardboard, which should be recycled properly to avoid these issues.”
Fort Worth’s fleet includes specialized trucks with clawlike cranes that can pick up large piles of bulk trash once a month, but McCartney emphasizes that the automated side-loader vehicles that service recycling carts every week allow multiple opportunities for residents to divert recyclable materials correctly, and much more often.
RESOURCES
Here's more residential recycling information for residents of:
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Author
JOHN KENT
John Kent is a Fort Worth-based freelance writer and former staff writer for the Albuquerque Journal. He has also written stories for the Associated Press, Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Business Press and the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. You can reach him at [email protected].
