From Forest to Store

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From Forest to Store:

The Recycling Journey of Corrugated Packaging

Corrugated boxes are staple packaging products that grocery retailers rely on. And the corrugated packaging industry relies on your store and your customers to recycle that packaging so it can continue making more boxes, too. It’s all part of a circular journey with many steps along the way.

Come along to learn how trees become boxes that are recycled to become new boxes once again.

Stop

Sustainably Managed Forests

Certified foresters and loggers harvest just enough trees, raised on private land using sustainable forestry practices, to make paper-based products, including corrugated boxes.

More than 1 billion new trees are planted every day in the U.S.!

For each tree harvested,

three more
are planted

to take its place.

Stop

The Paper Mill

Harvested trees and recycled boxes are processed into rolls of paper called containerboard.

Containerboard mills receive wood chips, used boxes or a combination of both to make paper.

Stop

The Box Plant

A box plant is a facility that produces corrugated boxes by converting sheets of corrugated material into finished products. Box plants have corrugators and finishing equipment, and can produce a variety of boxes, including brown corrugated boxes, die-cut boxes, and printed boxes.
.

Rolls of paper are made into sheets by combining three layers of paper. The middle layer, in a wavy configuration, is called medium, and the formed arches are called flutes, which absorb impact and provide the right amount of rigidity for the boxes that are shipped to and from your business.

Corrugated boxes are made from a renewable resource, and can be recycled at the end of their life.

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Product Manufacturers and Grocery Suppliers

Corrugated boxes are then used by product manufacturers and suppliers to securely package and safely transport their goods to retail outlets.

Corrugated packaging both insulates and cushions, which helps protect fragile or heavy contents.

Corrugated packaging is lightweight, which can lower shipping costs.

Corrugated packaging can help drive brand awareness and product preference.

Stop

Your Store

Boxes come into stores loaded with products, which are un-boxed and put on shelves.

Thanks to the quality of the corrugated cardboard packaging they arrive in, shrink is reduced — which is a bottom-line benefit for your store.

Boxes come into stores, loaded with product, ready to be un-boxed and put on shelves. Products arrive in good condition because they are shipped in corrugated, reducing shrink for the retailer.

When you recycle, you’re helping to build a circular, sustainable supply chain that is great for the environment and your business, too.

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Recycling Sites

Corrugated recycling begins at the store, where used, empty boxes are compacted and baled for collection.

The bales are sent to materials recovery facilities, sorted and returned to paper mills as new feedstock.

Successful, year-after-year recycling keeps used boxes out of landfills, reducing carbon dioxide and methane emissions that would be released into the atmosphere.¹

Grocers, industry and households have been recycling boxes for decades, making corrugated the most recycled packaging material on earth.

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Back to the Paper Mill

Recycled boxes are placed in a repulper with water to form a slushy pulp.

Most corrugated boxes include recycled content.

Contaminants are removed, and

the clean pulp goes to a paper

machine where it is turned into spools

of paper that are shipped to corrugated box manufacturers.

And the journey begins again…

Sustainably Managed Forests

The Paper Mill

The

Box Plant

Recycling Stations

Grocery
Manufacturers
and Suppliers

Your
Store

To learn more about how recycling boxes can make

your store part of the sustainable, circular supply chain, visit www.fibrebox.org

www.fibrebox.org

Sources: ¹ 2020 life cycle assessment of U.S. average corrugated product