Cardboard is used frequently in our day-to-day lives for packaging and shipping. In fact, cardboard is used to ship 90% of all products in the United States. Cardboard is made of biodegradable materials, making it easy to recycle into more paper products, including new cardboard or paperboard.
Whether you are recycling clean, dry and baled cardboard at your home, office, facility, or store, there are both environmental and economic benefits. For instance, larger facilities who use a vertical baler to compact and their cardboard, significantly reduce the expense of paying a garbage hauler to take it away. For some countries who do not have sustainable wood resources, recycling corrugated cardboard can help them build a local paper and packaging industry.
There are 2 Main Types of Cardboard:
1) Corrugated Cardboard is often used in shipping boxes and is more durable. In a commercial setting, old corrugated cardboard (OCC) can be compressed and baled for easy transportation to the recycling center.
2) Paperboard is usually thinner with a coated or glossy appearance that used for items such as cereal boxes, beverage boxes, or shoe boxes. Check with your recycling center to see if the paperboard should be separated from the other types of paper and cardboard.
Recycling Cardboard is Easy!
The rule to remember is that in order to recycle cardboard efficiently and maximize your recycling revenue, the cardboard must be clean, dry and baled.
1) Cardboard must be clean (no oil or grease contamination i.e. pizza boxes).
2) Cardboard must be dry (water makes it non-recyclable).
3) Cardboard boxes must be flattened or baled.
With most of cardboard waste coming form big companies such as grocery stores and department stores, it is apparent that cardboard recycling needs to be done at sources other than just the home. Leaders such as Fareway Stores and the Renault Car Factory have set the standards high by installing balers for their cardboard recycling, other companies and communities who have not started a cardboard recycling program should follow suit. Progressive recycling centers such as the one in Winneshiek County has seen the impact of what a small community can do with a “green” recycling state of mind.
Are you considering taking control of the cardboard waste at your company?
Harmony Enterprises can help you find a cardboard compactor or baler solution.
Read more baling cardboard or contact us at (507) 886-6666.
Cardboard Stats Source: Earth911 on Cardboard Recycling and Recycling Infographic
