The Obsession with Pizza Boxes

There’s more than meets the eye to the box that stores the pie. Zachary Crockett cracks the lid.

RESOURCES

• "Who Is the Fastest Pizza Box Folder?! World Pizza Games 2021," video by The Laughing Lion (2021).
• "Pizza Box Contamination Doesn’t Impede Recyclability, Association Says," by Megan Smalley (Recycling Today, 2020).
• "Scott's Pizza Chronicles: A Brief History of the Pizza Box," by Scott Wiener (Serious Eats, 2018).
• "Apple Patented a Pizza Box, for Pizzas," by Jacob Kastrenakes (The Verge, 2017).
• "We Eat 100 Acres of Pizza a Day in the U.S.," by Lenny Bernstein (The Washington Post, 2015).
• Pizza Tiger, by Thomas Monaghan (1986).

SOURCES:

• Patrick Kivits, president of corrugated packaging at WestRock.
• Eric Nelson, green business program manager for Johnson County, Kansas.
• Scott Wiener, founder of Scott's Pizza Tours.