Meat Packaging
What Should I Do With It?
Prepackaged meat containers including foam trays, clear plastic wraps, and wax-coated butcher paper are entirely unrecyclable and must be thrown in the regular trash. Raw food residue, blood, and grease heavily saturate these packages, creating a severe biological contamination risk that prevents recycling facilities from processing them. To help reduce your plastic footprint, consider purchasing fresh cuts directly from the service meat counter.
Before throwing this away, see if it can be fixed up, given to a friend, or donated to a local thrift shop. Keeping items in use is the best way to stop waste before it starts!
The recycling guidelines shown here are for general reference and educational purposes. Every city and town has different rules, sorting equipment, and recycling programs.
Please check your local town website or ask your local garbage collection program to make sure you are following your neighborhood's rules.