Corrugated boxes are quite popular for packaging across several industries. Further, the rise of e-commerce business has further made its demand to up all the time.
Thus, whatever product you may purchase, they generally, come in corrugated boxes, and also, they may end up piling in your house too and you think of how to recycle them. Though there are several ways to do it this blog by Mr. Gaurav Jalan, Founder, and Director of Packman Packaging Pvt Ltd which is India’s leading manufacturer and supplier of corrugated boxes talk about some of the unique and innovative ways to recycle corrugated boxes.
Why Recycling is Needed
Before jumping into recycling processes, it is essential to learn why there is a need to recycle corrugated boxes. Recycling corrugated packaging decreases the amount of solid waste disposal. More than 80% of the corrugated boxes are recycled to make new boxes. It makes corrugated boxes more sustainable packaging material. The corrugated boxes in your house might be made up of OCC, old corrugated cardboard.
Recycling old corrugated boxes lower energy and water usage. By recycling, one can decrease the production of greenhouse gas and air pollutants that might include total reduced sulfur (TRS), hazardous air pollutants (HAP), and volatile organic chemicals (VOCs). Also, you can reduce the demand for virgin timber by recycling. Almost, 3 tons of trees are used to make just one ton of virgin boxes or cardboard. Waste tipping fees can also be reduced with the help of recycling. It is estimated that more than 9 cubic yards of landfill space can be saved by recycling one ton of cardboard.
In several cases, the corrugated boxes are recyclable. The boxes that are hard to recycle contain food (pizza boxes, frozen food boxes), wet boxes, or waxed boxes.
Some people opts to reuse these boxes. Corrugated boxes are good for storing and organizing things, specifically, custom mailer boxes, with special interlocking flaps for assembling and closing the box. Several people use their creativity to design corrugated boxes and utilize them for different purposes.
Some of the Unique Approaches for Recycling
Before you proceed to recycle make sure if you specifically have custom boxes, you have to detach the plastic, foams, and wooden parts that are inside.
Donate
This is a simple and convenient mode to recycle your extra corrugated boxes. Some establishments receive donations in boxes. They give your donations to deserving people or different charity houses and then, send the boxes to recycling units.
By donating to specific organizations, one can get rid of piles of boxes, and also one can take part in helping society by donating the things. This method is smart and helpful and is much appreciated.
Revamp
Corrugated boxes can be revamped into a different 3D object. Revamp also includes creating artworks from boxes or cutting them into various style of boxes used as organizers. However, here it is not about that transformation. There are several ways by which you can remold the boxes into unique shapes.
This is done by tearing the boxes into many pieces and then crushing and grinding them using some glue, water, and additives. After the mixture becomes smooth, it can be positioned in any mold and rested until it hardens. You might be surprised to see your corrugated box changed to some beautiful decoration item. You can then paint it and that’s it.
This method is not quite famous because it is difficult. Also, the wrong proportion of material can fail the experiment. That is why people normally, do not believe in such techniques. But if the right proportion of mixtures are used, one can mold the boxes into any form.
Recycling Plants
This method does not only sound easy, but actually, it is. Sending unwanted boxes to recycling plants is the basic way to recycle them. If you are not interested in any unique approach for recycling, just pile up all the boxes together, carry them with you to the recycling plant, and place them in a specific container. But prior to that, remove all the tapes and other parts from the boxes. Open all the box’s flaps, if it is a custom mailer box then press it flat. Tie all the flat boxes with a rope and here you are done. Your boxes are ready to visit the recycling plant.
Mostly in cities, corrugated boxes can be recycled along with single-walled cardboard, in standard curbside recycling. But there are recycling programs that need corrugated boxes to be separated from cans and bottles. However, in many rural areas, where curbside recycling pickups are not provided, you have to take your corrugated boxes to a recycling plant by yourself.
Companies that recycle plenty of corrugated boxes may want to bundle them for easier transportation. Large corporations might even invest in machines that automatically compress and bundle corrugated boxes for faster disposal and recycling.
