Cardboard boxes are all around us. Our electronics are packaged in them, our pizzas come delivered in them as well. If you think that it is a bit wasteful and not good for the environment, consider the alternative packaging options, like Styrofoam or plastics which are far more damaging to the environment.

Besides, cardboard can be recycled a number of times, and it doesn’t even require all that much effort or skill from you. Just follow these simple rules, and you will be well on the way to help the environment. If all of us put in this much effort, we’d be living in a very different, cleaner world.

Recycling Isn’t Perfect

I’m sad to say that our ability to recycle cardboard is far from perfect and there are some restrictions when it comes to what can be recycled and what is beyond our ability to reuse. For instance, any cardboard which is soaked in grease or any other food residue is not suitable for recycling. Even if you put it in the recycling bin, it will be discarded by the recycling plant.

Another thing which makes cardboard unsuitable for recycling is when it is wet. Wet cardboard weighs a lot and can easily get stuck in the automated sorting machine, clogging it and causing more harm than good.

How Should You Store Your Cardboard boxes?

All of your cardboard boxes need to be flattened completely before being sent to recycling. You may think that it is not important, but in fact, it can severely damage recycling machinery if they’re not used according to the manual.

We tend to like cardboard because it is lightweight and yet pretty durable. In fact, when folded properly, it can get really hard and tough, which is exactly why it can be dangerous to the recycling machinery. Simply take the time to flatten all of your recycling boxes and there will be no problems. The added benefit of easier transport is also not to be neglected, especially for companies which process high volumes of material.

We Use a Lot of Cardboard

Like I mentioned in the introduction, there is a lot of cardboard in our modern world. Aside from packaging goods, one of the most common uses of cardboard is in moving boxes. When people move, they use an average of 60 cardboard boxes. The amount of wood required to make these boxes is somewhat staggering, around ½ of a ton of raw wood.

So, just by recycling, or even better, buying recycled boxes, you can save a lot of trees. Not only will the trees be saved and continue to provide the much-needed oxygen for us, but you will also save a lot of other resources needed to produce paper and cardboard.

How Cardboard Is Made

Most cardboard box manufacturers like https://www.boxcoop.com/ don’t make cardboard from scratch, but rather take over from the saw mills when the paper is made. Once the trees are cut, they need to be cut into logs and transported into the saw mill. Once there, all the wood is turned into chips, which is then turned into pulp by boiling it for a long time. Once the process is done, the resulting mass is dried and rolled on massive rollers. The paper is cut and glued, forming cardboard which is then shaped into boxes and shipped out. Recycled paper can significantly reduce the amount of wood needed to make the same amount of paper.

Upcycle

If you cannot recycle your cardboard for whatever reason, you may want to consider upcycling. It’s essentially reusing boxes for other purposes after their primary purpose is done. So, you may want to use your old laptop box as a magazine stand, or any number of great upcycling ideas you can find online.