The city of Des Moines has added three new sites for corrugated cardboard drop-off, including at Franklin Avenue Library, 5000 Franklin Avenue.

Why drop off carboard when it can easily go into your blue recycling bin? Two reasons. If you have a LOT of cardboard, perhaps from a large appliance purchase, it’s a lot easier to put in the big bins at Franklin. Secondly, the city can get a higher price for recycled cardboard when it isn’t contaminated by all the other items that go into the household recycle carts, like glass, metal or plastic.

Des Moines At-Large city councilman Carl Voss reports in his newsletter to constituents that cardboard drop-off sites were also added to the Southside Library and East Side Library.

Metro Waste Authority Community Engagement Manager Cassie Riley told Voss there are now 29 corrugated (brown) cardboard drop-off locations in the metro. “These are heavily utilized by residents and small businesses,” Cassie said.

City public works director Jonathan Gano told Voss that four categories of recycled materials increased in 2025, including cardboard, mixed glass, metal cans, and plastic containers such as milk jugs. Gano told Voss that increased tonnage means the city gets more revenue when reselling the material. The revenue doesn’t cover the expense of collecting the material, which includes trucks, mileage and labor. But the city’s recycling program kept 6,590 tons of waste out of the Metro East Landfill in 2025.