Energy and Recycling Cardboard

Considering the severe environmental (read air quality) impacts in your region, recycling of cardboard (paper) is the obvious choice--at least the part you don't use for tender to ignite kindling and log. And cardboard doesn't give much heat either. And, card board burning increases cutting of logs up in the northwest where the pulp trees grow. Cardboard burning is also more likely than a well seasoned log to send embers up the chimney...and into the forest surrounding HangTown. Just an opinion.

Air quality is definitely an issue during summer, but seldom during the times when I use the stove, and especially at this altitude (640m, 2100ft). Prevailing winds carry the majority of the smoke to higher altitudes, where air quality is even less of a problem.

I'm talking about small boxes, mostly food containers, which indeed are only used to start the fire. I don't believe the cardboard produces significantly more embers than the paper and twigs that would replace the cardboard.

Overall, CO2 production should be minimised by burning biofuels - so long as you can avoid buying material that caused deforestation elsewhere. As long as you would buy any material independent of whether you burn it, the main measure should be what proportion of the stored energy contributes to your comfort.

It has been claimed that fine dust in the atmosphere is helpful (short-term) for global warming.

I've no idea of the overall balance here - and I'm not certain that the standard answers will be appropriate in your very particular circumstances.

depends largely on where you live. in my case, burning is a much better option. any heat energy derived from burning a renewable carbon-based 'waste' are BTU's that are otherwise from fossil fuels that are trucked almost 1000 miles. my location also means that for cardboard to be recycled, is must be trucked about 1500 miles to be constituted into new paper product. and i suspect that much of it is actually sent on a 'slow boat to china' - literally. plus there is the energy consumption of baling, loading, unloading, mulching, de-inking, etc. if you live away from energy and recycling markets, it is better to derive some value from it than to ship it all over the country in hopes that someone will do something useful with it.

does any one how much emissions are given off when burning cardboard

This page may help you: http://www.edf.org/papercalculator/index.cfm?action=

Thanks for the link, But I couldn't find anything about the energy/environmental aspects of burning for heat vs. recycling at that site.

If there is something that I missed, please give more specifics.

Dick

There is an important issue you might need to consider--the volume of waste cardboard you have and its resell value.

If it is small e.g. no more than 10kg, as a temporary disposal solution, you could burn it for warm purpose. However, it is considerable big, which means that you can get more money by resell them for recycling, it is definitely a much better and environment-friendly solution. On the other hand, there are many other options to get efficient heat than burning cardboard. Use the money from waste cardboard to get the proper material for fireplace and let the recycling specialists do their jobs!

No, I'm just talking about small household packaging waste. Something like a kg a month... THe big boxes I always save and recycle, but there is never enough of that to be able to sell - it just goes to the local waste management company, and they accumulate enough to sell.