Cereal boxes, cracker boxes, shoe boxes, delivery or shipping boxes and more.  That sure is a whole lot of boxes!  We might not notice it but after the contents of these boxes are taken out or used up, they usually are left sitting in the corners of our house or it goes directly to the trash bin.

There is an overwhelming amount of cardboard box production.  Considering the environmental impacts of paper production and how much damage it has caused to our planet.  Paper manufacturers have been a major source of the accumulation of toxic chemicals.  These chemicals are used in paper making.  There is mass energy and water consumption for producing paper using up a huge amount of water and electricity.  It also has contributed to air pollution, production of solid waste materials and has done much damage to our forests.  Deforestation happens because for years the paper industry has depended upon paper pulp from forests endangering the ecological balance.  Let’s take into consideration some facts about cardboard boxes:

First, over 90% of products in the United States are shipped using cardboard boxes and 70% is recovered for recycling.  This type of packaging allows fewer resources by doing away with any unnecessary extra packaging because of its increased strength.  When recycled, these boxes can be made into paperboards, chipboards, paper towels, writing paper and so on.  Transforming the pulp from trees for use in the production of cardboard can create sulfur dioxide pollution.  Recycling can cut this problem in half.  This type of packaging is a $17 billion a year industry.

So RECYCLE or better yet RE- USE!  Recycling has been the most conventional method we know in helping the environment.  Cardboard boxes are not covered with wax or chemicals making it a recyclable material.  Re-using these materials can be of great help too especially that it saves energy and resources.  These cardboard boxes can go a long way and not just a trip to the trash bin.  Cardboard is a strong and versatile type of packaging material, therefore there are so many ways wherein you can reuse these stuff.  Giving a new life to these boxes by turning them into new products is just one of many helpful ways to support our environment.

Recycling these boxes can save you and most business establishments a great deal of money.  The boxes are quite bulky especially if they are not flattened so it takes up too much space in dumpsters.  For businesses, they can avoid extra disposal fees by selling these unwanted boxes since there are actually companies who buy these.  It can also be donated to school or centers that can make use of these boxes for creative and educational purposes.  Disposing cardboard boxes can take up much space in landfills.

You can re- use these boxes by dismantling them and let them lay flat so it won’t take up too much space.  They can be used for future storage of materials or for creative use.  You can turn these cardboard boxes into art frames, trash bins and file organizers or just about anything you can imaginatively think of.

So before even thinking of tossing those boxes to the dumpsters, buying new boxes or keeping and leaving them in storage closets to rot, think of the so many ways the cardboard box can be economically or creatively of used.  It may not sound like such a big deal for you but realize of how many thousands of meters of virgin forests you can save out of this.