If you're reading this article, you're likely cleaning out your game closet because you have too many old puzzles. And being a responsible adult, let's toss them into the recycling bin!
Wait. How do puzzles get recycled? What actually happens to the puzzles after they leave my bin?
Unfortunately, almost every single puzzle piece you throw into a recycling bin ends up in a landfill. Here's the real story behind why puzzles almost never get recycled, and why big puzzle brands keep telling you otherwise.
Jump to SummaryWhy Puzzles Never Make It Through Sorting Facilities
When your collection truck picks up your blue bin, it drives to a local material recovery facility (a sorting plant). These facilities use fast conveyor belts, spinning filters, and air jets to sort materials. Unfortunately, small items like puzzle pieces will never get past this facility.
1. Puzzle Pieces Fall Through Filter Gaps
Sorting plants aren't built for tiny items. Equipment uses rotating disc screens to lift paper while dropping heavy items. As regional recycling guidelines point out, items smaller than 2 inches by 2 inches are likely to fall right through sorting equipment into residual waste.[1] That waste pile goes straight to the landfill. Since a standard puzzle piece is much smaller than 2 inches, your pieces slip through the gaps instantly.
2. Pre-Sort Stations Dump Closed Boxes
If loose pieces fall through, what happens if you leave the pieces inside the box? Well, that creates a totally different problem. Human workers at pre-sort stations pull closed or heavy boxes off conveyor belts before they reach automated machinery.
Workers only have about 2 seconds to judge each item passing by. Since closed boxes carry a high risk of contamination with unknown materials that disrupt the recycling process, workers are trained to divert them to landfill. What does that mean? Full, unflattened puzzle boxes won't get recycled.
3. Mechanical Separators Handle Flat Cardboard
If a lucky box slips past human workers, don't worry! Automated sorting screens are then used to separate flat paperboard from bulky items. The American Forest and Paper Association emphasizes that cardboard boxes must be emptied and flattened before entering the recycling stream.[2] A closed puzzle box with depth gets tossed out.
In short, if you dump loose puzzle pieces into recycling bins, they fall through the screens. If you keep them in the box, closed packaging gets diverted as waste. Either way, puzzles end up in the landfill.
Greenwashing In The Puzzle Industry: Marketing vs Reality
If puzzle pieces go straight to the dump, why do major puzzle brands slap green logos and claims like "100% recyclable" all over their boxes?
Clever marketing. Companies frame the recycling claims on the raw material itself rather than what actually happens after you throw them out.
Big brands know full well that once puzzle boards get chopped into puzzle pieces and sent to your house, recycling programs cannot process them. They keep eco-friendly claims anyway because it sells products, leaving unknowing buyers with boxes of puzzles that go nowhere but the garbage dump.
Practical Ways to Keep Old Puzzles Out of Landfills
Since tossing puzzles into recycling bins doesn't actually recycle them, what should you do with an old puzzle? Here are some ideas to give them a second life:
- Donate them: Take puzzles to nursing homes, libraries, schools so someone else can build them.
- Host a swap: Trade puzzles with your friends, neighbors, or local communities to try new ones without buying anything new.
- Recycle the outer box correctly: To make sure the outer box is recyclable, empty and flatten it so it rides through sorting belts.
To make sure no pieces get lost before trading, check out our guide on how to store completed puzzles safely.
References
- NH Recycles. Size Matters When it Comes to Recycling. View on NH Recycles.
- American Forest & Paper Association. Cardboard is Recyclable. View on American Forest & Paper Association