In the current society, corrugated cardboard is an incredibly popular material within the packaging industry and for other mainstream uses like storage or retail. This is not only because of its sturdiness, durability, and cost-effectiveness but also because of its eco-friendliness. As the care for the environment has become of ever-growing importance when consumers are deciding whether they should buy from a business, it has induced the use of corrugated cardboard as a material for wrapping presents, packaging orders, and ensuring safety of stock during transit. The production and recycling of cardboard contribute to improving the level of deforestation across the world, hence why the process of reusing and recycling cardboard has become essential in every home and company building. Although approximately 70% of cardboard is currently recycled, there is always room for the improvement of this statistic. This blog will help explain why you should always recycle cardboard boxes, particularly product packaging and everyday household items, and the benefits of doing so.
Cardboard Recycling Facts
- Cardboard and paper contribute approximately 40% to the World’s solid waste.
- In 2018, corrugated cardboard equated to the largest portion of municipal solid waste.
- 52% of the United Kingdom’s population recycles more than what they did one year ago.
- 88% of UK households consider recycling a new socially established norm, only 3% admit to not recycling at all and 9% recycle occasionally.
- South Korea was the country that recycled the most waste in 2021, followed closely by Sweden and Japan, the UK placed 20th.
- Recycled paper produces 73% less air pollution than if it was made from raw materials.
- In 2018, over 17,200 thousand tons of cardboard were thrown in the landfill, showing how much more can be done in an effort to recycle the material!
How you can Reuse Cardboard in Your Business and Home
Within businesses, the way to reuse cardboard is simple. When transporting items to different locations of the company, you can repackage items with the same cardboard box or tear the substance up to make it into a form of packing paper – such as a homemade version of loose fill or paper wrapping – for stock protection and cushioning during transit. Corrugated cardboard boxes can be recycled and used over and over as storage boxes, if you have run out of containers or just don’t want to use plastic when you receive parcels, simply slot your products into the empty cartons and place them wherever they need to go. This can also be integrated into the restrooms for storing toiletries or kitchens for organising food and beverages.
There are plenty of ways to recycle cardboard within your personal life as well as business life, the following examples are ways in which you can reuse cardboard within your house:
- You can make plant pots for outdoor or indoor plants by attaching a plastic bag inside the container to line it and poking several holes in the base of the pot, to add a special touch to this homemade pot you can paint or decorate it however you wish.
- Like within the warehouse or your company’s building, cardboard boxes can easily be turned into storage containers instead of buying plastic ones which will only harm the environment and are likely to crack or break.
- Cardboard can protect your furniture or flooring by being cut into small circles, you can paint the material to fabricate fun coasters to place glasses on and avoid rings appearing on tables, or you can place them underneath your furniture’s legs and have them become a way to protect your floor from scratches or marks.
- Corrugated cardboard can actually also be used as a weed killer! All you have to do is place the broken-down boxes over the top of your garden weeds, wet the cardboard with a hose and cover it with dirt. This way it will kill the weeds naturally, without the need for any chemicals.
- A final way to recycle cardboard is similar again to one way in which it can be reused in the industry, by repackaging items needing to be sent by post, this will help nurture for both your wallet and the ecosystem!
Why Is It Important to Recycle Corrugated Cardboard?
There are countless ways why recycling corrugated cardboard is beneficial for business, it can save you money reusing boxes instead of buying new, it reduces the cost of waste, impresses customers and entices new ones due to you showing your eco-friendly ethos. However, you probably already know why your company can profit from the reuse of cardboard, but it is also crucial to understand the importance of recycling.
- Firstly, cardboard is in high demand due to the current climate, so recycling the material will not only help your business but will also assist in other people’s ability to get their hands on the substance.
- Most cardboard boxes are already made from at least 50% recycled cardboard however, this percentage would increase if cartons were recycled by individuals and not just waste management companies.
- Recycling corrugated cardboard is a great way of making an effort to reduce the impact of making cardboard in the future. This is because by reusing cardboard, the need to buy other materials that would be used to make products for your house lowers as they have been substituted for a more environmentally sound alternative such as coasters or floor protectors.
- Reusing and recycling cardboard means that there is a higher chance that the material does not end up in a landfill. Landfills produce methane, carbon dioxide (CO2) and increase the number of organic materials that need to be broken down. Both methane and CO2 are greenhouse gases, so their release into the atmosphere has detrimental effects on the environment and the climate as a whole. Landfills are also often built-into marginalized communities, so limiting the effect that landfills have on surrounding livelihoods can help rebalance the World’s social justice.
- Another demonstration of why recycling materials made of paper such as cardboard is because for every 1 kilogram of paper formed, 1.15 kilogram of carbon dioxide is produced. Billions of tonnes of cardboard are thrown away across the Earth annually which equates to an incredibly high number of trees. Trees make habitats for species and are the main contribution to the performance of photosynthesis – which helps to remove carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and in turn, lessens the devastation of the current climate crisis. Trees are integral to a healthy ecosystem, deforestation is detrimental, so recycling all cardboard is of the uppermost importance.
How are cardboard boxes recycled?
Various kinds of paper and cardboard may be mixed together for collection, but once everything reaches the recycling plant, it is sorted and graded. Once this has taken place, it is delivered to a mill where it is made into pulp with water — pulping separates the fibres.
The pulped fibres are then screened to remove contaminants, such as paper clips and staples, and then cleaned and de-inked. When the pulp is sufficiently clean, it is processed through rollers (or a vibrating machine) to remove most of the water, and then dried. Here, it may be mixed with non-recycled pulp, depending on the kind of end product that is required.
The dried pulp is then rolled into paper, which is then used to manufacture paper and card products, including more cardboard boxes.
Should cardboard boxes ever not be recycled?
Recycling isn’t the only way to avoid landfill or incineration. You could reuse unwanted cardboard boxes by passing them on to your local school, so that they can be used in craft projects. You might store old books or CDs in a box, or even ‘upcycle’ one by decorating it with wallpaper and store art supplies or children’s toys inside it.
Sadly, not all cardboard can be recycled. Since water is used in pulping, the screening process cannot deal with grease as oil and water don’t mix well. Grease will stay on the fibres, resulting in poor quality recycled paper or card.
For this reason, cardboard boxes that have been contaminated with food waste — such as takeaway pizza or fried chicken boxes — should not be put into your recycling bin. Similarly, if you run a shop, and a bottle of cooking oil has leaked into a box, put that box in with your general waste.
Finally, make sure you keep your old cardboard boxes dry. Wet cardboard can clog up the machines that are used to sort it. As a result, an entire batch of recycling could be contaminated.
When you recycle your used cardboard boxes, you make a valuable contribution to both the British economy and the future of the planet, so please keep up the good work!
So, there you have it…
Corrugated cardboard recycling is something that all businesses and households should do, and from the current statistics, a lot more people can make an effort in doing. It is not only beneficial for companies in terms of saving money, increasing profits, and impressing customers but it is also essential for the care of our environment and reduction in the detrimental effects that humans have on it.
To find out more useful tips on recycling cardboard boxes shop at BiGDUG, or click here to view our blog today.