Salem To Offer Free Cardboard Recycling Program

SALEM, MA — Salem is offering residents and businesses a chance to recycle their cardboard for free through a municipal program at the Transfer Station.

Cardboard boxes that are not reusable should be flattened, clean and dry, and returned to the Transfer Station at 12 Swampscott Road from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays or 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. The program begins on Saturday and continues through Dec. 17.

The city said the Transfer Station will then be open one weekend per month for cardboard recycling until a more permanent cardboard recycling facility can be determined.

"With the closure of the only cardboard recycling facility in Salem recently, a privately operated business, we know that residents and businesses alike have been looking for options for recycling their cardboard," Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo said. "We encourage those who are able to collapse and add their cardboard to their recycling toter for curbside collection, but if you have excess cardboard or are not part of the city's curbside collection program, this new free service should hopefully be helpful to you."

Boxes that can be reused can also be returned to U-Haul Moving & Storage at 43 Jefferson Avenue as part of its "Take a Box, Leave a Box" reuse program.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)