In my house, an empty moving box used to look like storage I had already paid for. Flatten it, keep it in the garage, and surely it would be useful again. That was the reflex as of mid-September 2026: if the cardboard stayed dry, why get rid of it? Here in Florida, I have learned to be suspicious of northern-house logic that treats an unused corner as free space.
The boxes also have somewhere to go in Port St. Lucie. A county recycling office says cardboard is accepted in single-stream recycling and that single-family households in Port St. Lucie have a green 64-gallon recycling cart with wheels and an attached lid. Keeping an empty box in the garage is a choice, not the only way to deal with it.
Seeing roaches near stored boxes?Get help with roaches near stored boxes.1Say what’s going on2Answer a few quick questions3Local pros reach out if you wantDescribe my roach problem→Free · Your number stays private
What the EPA says
The US Environmental Protection Agency puts the problem plainly: “Clean up clutter, including stacks of newspapers, paper bags, and cardboard boxes. These make good hiding places for pests.” Its cockroach guidance specifically recommends getting rid of stacked cardboard boxes because they make good hiding places for roaches. That changes how I look at my old pile. I was judging the boxes by whether I could use them again; the pest-control question is what can use them while I am not looking…