The Basics

Around the world more than 70 million tons of cardboard are produced each year. Lots of this ends up as waste once used. The good news is cardboard is one of the most recycled materials on the planet.

Still, businesses and consumer demand create incredible levels of cardboard waste. It’s one of the main materials for packaging all sorts of products, which is often discarded after serving its purpose. This includes everything from packaging for online orders to empty pizza boxes and cardboard tubes for posters. You can get a sense of how much cardboard we work through and why increasing recycling is important with the statistics and facts about cardboard waste below.

• Food packaging – cereal boxes, pizza boxes
• Delivery boxes for online orders
• Shipping packaging for furniture, appliances, and large goods
• Shoe boxes
• Cardboard tubes
• Toilet and kitchen paper rolls
• Milk and juice cartons
• Tissue boxes and washing powder boxes

 Cardboard is an incredibly popular material for packaging across the world. Many cardboard waste facts and statistics overlap or are combined with those for paper, due to their similarities. Plus, most paper and cardboard can be stored together, and certain grades recycled in the same process (depending on their exact type). 

  Discover how much cardboard we use and dispose of with these cardboard waste statistics:

• The world produces more than 72 million tons of cardboard annually – though this doesn’t all go to waste
• Cardboard and paper form 17% of global waste – the second-highest amount after food and green waste
• Around 90% of products are shipped in cardboard packaging materials
• The global cardboard industry is worth more than $4 billion
• 17 billion cardboard tubes are thrown away every year
• It takes around two months for cardboard to biodegrade
• 40% of all waste thrown out in the USA is cardboard or paper

These cardboard recycling facts show the huge environmental benefits of recycling waste cardboard:

• Recycling one ton of cardboard saves 7,000 tons of water and around 210 litres of oil
• By recycling one ton of cardboard, it could save 17 trees
• Creating cardboard from recycled materials uses 75% of the energy compared to making new cardboard
• Recycling one ton of cardboard saves 4,000kW of energy
• For every ton of cardboard recycled, it can save about nine cubic yards of landfill space
• After going through the recycling process a few times, the card fibers become too short to retain a structure and wear out
• Technological advancements and design developments mean packaging companies use materials that are 20% lighter than ten years ago, which creates less waste

By partnering with Boxed Out, cardboard is removed each night on time and transported to a nearby facility for recycling to sae your propertvy from cluttered mailrooms, hallways, and balconies. All of this can help reduce maintenance costs from clogged trash compactors, as well as providing a consistent revenue stream for ownership. To help your property through a green initiative, click below to receive a free quote today!