No. Parchment paper is not recyclable. However, you can recycle the box that comes with the parchment paper. Parchment paper is treated with acid and covered with a silicone coating, making it hard to recycle.
The silicone coating makes the paper non-sticky and heat resistant. Most bakers prefer using parchment paper when baking or roasting food in the oven to protect the pan from sticky crumbs and make the cleaning work easy.
The paper is also useful in many kitchen applications, including cooking and wrapping food for storage. Though parchment paper is convenient and prevents your pan from getting crusty, it cannot be recycled because of its properties.
Oils in the food and grease can also contaminate the paper, making it a non-scrap paper. Fortunately, you can reuse your parchment paper several times before throwing it away.
Reusing is the best way to make better use of the parchment paper. This text explains why it’s difficult to recycle parchment paper, and how to reuse it. Check it out!
Why Parchment Paper is Not Recyclable
The primary aim of paper recycling is to produce new usable paper products and conserve the environment. Treated, coated, and oily papers are not easily recycled as it’s hard to separate their components.
When you recycle a non-scrap paper, you may contaminate the newly produced paper product. Most of the parchment paper produced today comes with a silicone coating to make it non- sticky and heat-resistant.
This makes it difficult to recycle since the components in parchment paper cannot be separated easily. After using the parchment, the residue formed on the paper may also affect the quality of the produced after the recycling process.
Therefore, you should not put your used parchment paper on the recycling bin for paper recycling. Otherwise, you might end up ruining a recycled batch of paper.
Recycling Parchment Paper Box
Even though it’s not possible to recycle a regular parchment paper, you can recycle the box. You only have to remove the small stripe of metal teeth before breaking the box down for recycling.
Reusing Parchment Paper
You can reuse your parchment paper when baking a batch of cookies. But it is not recommendable to re-line it on your pan if it is already contaminated with foods, oil, or grease. Sometimes when cooking, food particles may stick on the parchment paper, making it difficult to reuse it.
You may also find that your parchment paper turned black due to high temperatures in the oven. In such a case, the paper becomes brittle and hard to reuse.
Reuse Parchment Paper When Baking Cookies
For those who love baking cookies, it can be expensive to use a new parchment paper every time you bake. You can be forced to spend more on parchment papers, especially when you are a regular baker.
Depending on your cooking conditions such as time and temperature, you can reuse your parchment paper when cooking many cookies.
When baking your cookies with the regular heating level in the oven of about 350 to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, it is possible to reuse your parchment paper for up to five times.
However, if you want to bake something in the oven with more than 420 degrees Fahrenheit, the parchment paper may not go for another round as it turns dark brown.
You should change the paper whenever it gets dark, dirty, or brittle to avoid messy cooking. Moreover, you can interchange two sheets of parchment paper, that is, one on the pan and the other for rolling the dough.
Then switch the papers after cooking for one or two rounds. If you are baking two different things and want to use one parchment paper, you can simply flip over the paper after baking the first one and then bake the next item.
Final Thoughts on Can used parchment paper be recycled
Though it is difficult to recycle parchment paper, you can help conserve the environment by reusing it several times before throwing it away.
Reusing will save you some money while still letting you prepare your food quickly and conveniently. However, you should not reuse the paper when it is already brittle, dark, and contaminated with food and oil, as it may lead to disappointments.