November 29, 2016
The Corrugated Packaging Alliance (CPA) shared glad tidings in two packages this past summer. In June, CPA reported that the OCC (old corrugated container) recovery rate hit an all-time high of 93 percent in 2015. Then later, CPA announced a rise to 48 percent in the average recycled content of corrugated boxes. That’s higher than previous estimates, and an important part of corrugated’s sustainability story. With the holidays in full swing and an increase in consumer doorstep deliveries, it’s important to be reminded of these recovery feats.
Corrugated’s stellar recovery and reuse rates have long been ahead of other packaging materials, but none of it happened overnight. It took a prolonged and focused industry effort that should be viewed as an example to improve recycling rates for other packaging materials.
Symbolism
Way back in 1970, Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day to build Americans’ awareness and appreciation for the environment. At the same time, a corrugated company called Container Corporation of America (CCA) sponsored a contest to design a symbol promoting their products made from recycled materials. A student from the University of Southern California, Gary Anderson, submitted the winning entry, which CCA modified and introduced to the world. That character is the familiar “chasing arrows” universally recognized as the recycling symbol today.
The corrugated industry innovated again in the early 1990s, developing the Corrugated Recycles symbol to help people identify corrugated for recycling. At the time, curbside recycling was new to most communities. Raising awareness of corrugated’s recyclability was an important first step to increase its recovery rate. Later adopted internationally, the Corrugated Recycles symbol is printed on the bottom of a significant number of today’s corrugated boxes as a clear sign that the package can be recycled.
It worked. The percentage of corrugated recovered for recycling has been climbing steadily since the symbol’s adoption, and it grew 3.7 percentage points in 2015 over the year before, to the record-high 93 percent. The 2015 increase was driven by a 3.5 percent increase in domestic consumption of recovered fiber and a 10.6 percent jump in OCC exports, as reported in the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) annual report on U.S. paper recovery. More statistics are available at www.paperrecycles.org/statistics.
This is just the latest improvement resulting from the corrugated industry’s long-term efforts. Even back in 1993, when recycling first began in earnest, 54 percent of corrugated was being recovered—a significant achievement already, considering less than 15 percent of plastic is recovered today, more than two decades later.
Where Does OCC Go?
Most recovered OCC is used to make new paper products. More than 51 percent of OCC recovered in 2015 was used to make new containerboard for more corrugated boxes. An additional 11.5 percent was used to make boxboard (for primary packaging such as cereal boxes), and more than 32 percent was exported. Global demand for OCC generated in the United States has grown steadily as well, helping ensure a viable market for U.S. recovered fiber.
Share the News
Everyone in the packaging business wants to promote their products as sustainable. None can compete with corrugated on this front. Some even propagate false information about corrugated to make their own products look better in comparison. We can combat their misinformation campaigns by sharing our truth: Corrugated is by far the most recycled packaging material on earth—its recovered fiber is reused in a robust market—and it is, on average, made with 48 percent recycled content.
So, when your neighbor’s doorstep is covered in boxes from family, friends, Amazon, UPS, and others this holiday season, please remember, and share: Corrugated Recycles.
Dennis Colley is the executive director of the Corrugated Packaging Alliance and president of the Fibre Box Association. He can be reached at 847-364-9600 or dcolley@fibrebox.org.
