February 3, 2016
The corrugated industry has reached an impressive milestone in its continuous efforts to provide the most preferred, most environmentally responsible packaging available anywhere. For the first time ever, recyclable alternative coatings are now more commonly used than wax.
How did this happen? Here’s a little history.
Traditionally, wax has been a one-size-fits-all option for products requiring a moisture barrier, such as fruits and vegetables, meat, and seafood. While it gets the job done for the product, wax presents a challenge to recovery and repulping at the end of life for a corrugated box.
With old corrugated container (OCC) recovery on the rise in the late 1990s, both the corrugated industry and retailers who receive the vast majority of the products they sell in corrugated boxes began to turn their attention to wax-coated boxes that constituted approximately 5 percent of total corrugated shipments. Unfortunately, there was no one, all-encompassing direct replacement for wax.
Meeting the Challenge
Ten years ago, the Fibre Box Association (FBA) developed a new recyclability standard for wax-alternative coatings that validates their repulpability so end-users can receive them with confidence. The standard was hailed as a major breakthrough for the industry and for environmental progress.
Since the recyclability standard’s inception, the FBA has annually surveyed corrugated manufacturers to measure the industrywide use of wax coatings on the boxes they produce. Stakeholders in our industry, including retailers, are watching.
Continuous Improvement
By developing and using wax alternatives, the industry continues to increase the amount of recyclable corrugated packaging.
In 2014, the corrugated industry shipped 10.6 billion square feet of boxes using recyclable wax alternative coatings. That’s roughly 708 percent more than the 1.3 billion square feet shipped when first measured in 2002.
Progress has been made in replacing all types of wax-treated boxes (cascaded, impregnated, and curtain-coated) with recyclable treated boxes.
Forty-seven recyclable wax alternatives have passed certification testing for repulpability and recyclability, and have been registered with the Fibre Box Association as of October 2015.
A True Success Story
During the past decade, the recovery rate for old corrugated containers continued to climb, hovering near 90 percent for the past four years. Today, more corrugated packaging is recovered for recycling than any other packaging material. Growth in production of recyclable coatings helps retailers recover even more of the corrugated packaging that comes into their stores.
Corrugated is the most reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable package available for transporting most products. The continuous decrease in wax coatings means that renewable, recyclable corrugated can be used for even the most demanding applications.
For more information about recyclable wax alternatives, including a fact sheet, visit www.corrugated.org.
Dennis Colley is executive director of the Corrugated Packaging Alliance and president of the Fibre Box Association. He can be reached at 847-364-960 or dcolley@fibrebox.org.
