Thought there wasn't much you could do with the design of a pizza box? Wrong. Environmentally Conscious Organization, Inc., (E. C. O.) has come up with what it calls the "Green Box" – a pizza box made from recycled cardboard with a perforated lid that you can easily turn it into four plates and a base that becomes a storage container for leftovers.
Clever designIt's nice to see a company redesigning such an established product. As the box folds down to half the size to function as a storage container, you might not have to rearrange your fridge next time you want to put your leftover pizza away. This, along with the other half separating into four "plates", gives it an advantage over other pizza boxes. E.C.O. also claims that it won't cost any more than a standard pizza box.
Recycled materialsOf course, the most environmentally friendly option for pizza eaters is to sit down and eat off a plate... or at least a reusable pizza box. But with literally billion of pizza’s going down the hatch in the U.S alone each year and, according to E.C.O., around 70% of these being served in boxes, it's clear that this option isn't for everyone.
Tests have shown that if the original material used to make the boxes contains large amounts of "inks, adhesives and other substances", the food put into the boxes can be exposed to chemicals harmful to humans.
E.C.O. says it offers the option of using an FDA approved, environmentally friendly, vegetable based coating that can be sprayed onto the liner of the box or added to the ‘wet’ recycling process to make the box 100% recyclable.