How are Cardboard boxes made - Emptybox Global

How are Cardboard boxes made?

Summary of How Cardboard Boxes Are Made

We have all come to know and love cardboard boxes, but most people really don’t know how they’re made. So we put this simple post together to explain how cardboard boxes are made

First, the basics

A cardboard box is basically made up of a flute (made up of recycled paper), sandwiched between two liners. It is now very common for these liners to also be made up of a considerable proportion of recycled content, sourced from old cardboard or other sources of second-hand paper. However, for top quality boxes virgin Kraft is still used. In actual fact though, it doesn’t really matter whether the paper is recycled or not, ultimately it always started out as virgin paper which is made from trees that have been pulped.

The trees

When manufacturing boxes we talk about two different types of liners, this is the material that lies on top and beneath the fluting and creates a corrugated board. Typically, cardboard boxes have a test paper inner liner, and a Kraft paper outer. This is because Kraft is better quality than test, and has a smoother finish so that it can be easily printed on. Kraft also has the benefit of being more resistant to water penetration which is an added benefit of using it for the outer face.

Pulping

To create the paper a long process is involved to ensure the wood chips that are pulped are clean and suitable for purpose. To start, the trees are cut and lumbered to create tones of logs which go through a machine to be debarked and chipped.

Fluting

Fluted cardboard is the wavy piece of board sandwiched between the liners and gives a box its strength and protection from knocks and impact damage. To create the fluted effect rolls of paper are fed into a corrugated roller machine, this process has been around since the 18th century and was originally used to add ruffles to shirts and hats!

How are Cardboard boxes made - Emptybox Global

What are the raw materials of a cardboard box?

The basic raw material used in the production of corrugated cardboard is corrugated cardboard raw paper. In Germany, this paper is made primarily of recycled paper, with a certain percentage of fresh fibers and starch glue. The paper is heated and moistened with steam.

What is cardboard used for?

The primary goal of cardboard packaging is to protect goods (usually solid items) that need to be stored and transported.

Read our last post on Best place to get Cardboard boxes for moving

Advantages of cardboard for the environment

 

  1. It has least environmental impact
  2. It is 100% recyclable and biodegradable.
  3. Minimizes waste generation.
  4. Does not lose durability and resistance.
  5. Cardboard packing along with some bubble wrap is best to keep fragile items safe.

 

There you have it, little summary on how cardboard boxes are made and some of its importance.

P.S – You can use our station’s website link  EmptyBox Reuse Station, to see boxes as they are available live and also drop off yours for those who might need these boxes.

Emptybox Global- Cardboard boxes for moving

Best place to get Cardboard boxes for moving

Places to get free cardboard boxes for Moving

Moving is stressful and expensive, plus it’s daunting to find cardboard boxes, and while we can’t help you move. We can help you with the best place to get cardboard boxes.

The average cost of local moving is around $1400 and can get high up to $6000 for long distance, then imagine forking extra money for cardboard boxes. Urgh, right?
Thankfully, that’s why we put this article together to highlight some ways to get moving boxes for free.

Summary

EmptyBox Station

Craigslist listings

Facebook Marketplace

Friends and Family

Yard Sales

Uhaul customer connect

Recycling Centers

Liquor stores

Local colleges or universities

Supermarket

Petstore

Places to get free cardboard boxes for Moving

EmptyBox Station

Places to get free cardboard boxes for Moving

You can get free boxes by visiting any of our stations as easily as ABC, and also drop off cardboard boxes also if you’d like.
There are so many ways to get cardboard boxes, and the mission of EmptyBox is to provide a simple approach to getting free Cardboard Boxes, thereby reducing environmental waste.
Here’s a link to our stations to easily pick up or drop off Cardboard boxes. EmptyBox Reuse Station

Craigslist listings

For those of you unfamiliar with Craigslist, it is an online marketplace for listing anything. It’s a great place to find things people are looking to give away or sell. There is a free section, where you can search for cardboard boxes, moving boxes, etc, and check out those looking to give their boxes away for free. This is a very good starting point to find free boxes. Other classified alternatives are NextDoor, OfferUp, Letgo, and EmptyBox stations website.

Facebook Marketplace

This popular social media networking site allows users not only to chat with friends and family but also to utilize its marketplace to advertise items to anyone in the world. Visit the Facebook marketplace and type “free boxes” in the search field. You can filter the results by location so it’s easy to pick up.
Other sections on Facebook, include searching on local and community groups and posting about it.

Friends and Family

One of the easiest ways to find cardboard boxes is to ask friends and family. Many people shop and keep these boxes sticking around for a while so, you never know. Also, walk around your neighborhood for anyone who just moved and ask nicely. Chances are they cannot wait to get rid of them.

Yard sales

Yard sales stock up a decent number of cardboard boxes, and most would be happy to part with them. Extra points if you come towards the end of the sale.

Uhaul customer connect

U-Haul Customer Connect is a service set up by U-Haul that lets you search for free moving supplies near you. You can take advantage of their services to find free boxes, as most people there would be happy to get rid of their boxes.

Enter your zip code or city into the search box and you’ll find free moving boxes that are just waiting for a new home.

Recycling Centers

Usually, the last place people think due to some of the boxes getting flattened down but recycling centers are a huge source of boxes. You can check around in your city for some boxes, but if flattened, you can hold them together with some firm packing tape.

Liquor stores

Liquor Stores have great boxes. Since they are used for shipping glass, they are generally high quality and often have handy dividers. Make sure to call a day or two in advance to ensure they’ll have enough for you if you’ll need a larger quantity. Restaurants, Coffee shops, Pharmacies, bookstores, and Bars are additional places to check for free boxes.

Supermarket

Another jackpot for boxes. There is a constant supply of cardboard boxes available due to the large number of deliveries they receive. The boxes in a supermarket are usually in very good condition.

Pro Tip- Make a point of heading to the supermarket either early in the morning between 7 am and 8 am or late at night after 10 pm, as these are key times when shelves are restocked and you’re going to be able to ask a member of staff who replenishes stock.

Some places to check are Walmart, Target, Amazon, Walgreens, Kroger, Traderjoe, IKEA, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Bath and Body Works, etc.

Local colleges or Universities

There is a regular period when students move out and move in, so you can get free boxes from students, especially from colleges and universities close to you. The beginning of the school year is a good time to check.

Petstore

Surprised right? Another source of cardboard boxes that most people seem to miss. Visit any local pet store around and ask for free boxes. PetSmart and Petco are a couple of examples.

 

There you have it, some of the best ways to get free cardboard boxes.

Keep in mind though that cardboard recycling is a big business, so it’s all about timing as they tend to get picked quickly.

You can use our station’s website link  EmptyBox Reuse Station, to see boxes as they are available live and also drop off yours for those who might need these boxes.

emptybox insider

EmptyBox Insider – Parks Holt

Meet our board member.

Parks Holt

Parks has had a 24-year career in various roles in sales for a handful of fortune 500 companies with 10+ years in management and is currently part of the healthcare client partnership team for LivePerson delivering conversational AI-strategies at scale to improve the patient experience across all channels. He began to chase his entrepreneurial spirit in 2005 by launching a podcast to help people understand how relationships work. Other endeavors over the years where he has served the community include: Board of Directors, VP of Communications for STAND of Delaware, an Advisory Board Member for Mission Leadership Board at SJLC, a Certified Life Coach, a Motivational Speaker, Certified Business Consultant, and ordained minister in which he is currently pursuing a degree in theology on target to graduate in 2023.Born to a 25-yr Airforce Vet in Honolulu, HI, Parks made his way to the east coast at the tender age of 2 growing up just about an hour from the beaches of Delaware. Whenever he is not busy contributing to business initiatives at work, he can be found mentoring people, spending time with family, playing basketball, and traveling.

dyk thursday

DYK 004 – United Kingdom

Did You Know?

The United Kingdom consumes roughly 5 billion cardboard boxes per year which equate to 83 boxes per person. This figure is projected to increase in the near future which raises serious consumption and environmental concerns😰

Let’s limit our cardboard consumption and try to reuse our existing boxes as much as possible.

Tune in next Thursday for more environmental facts

you can now support us via Amazon by clicking the link below

Join us next Thursday for more environmental-related facts.

Emptybox Global- happy earth day 2022

Happy Earth Day 2022

Happy Earth Day 2022

The theme for this year is Invest in Our Planet.

We need to act immediately by innovating and implementing solutions that are equitable to preserve life on Earth.

We can invest in our planet in multiple ways such as:

Planting Trees

Volunteering at Environment NGOs, such as EmptyBox.global

Recycling

Let’s make every day Earth Day

you can now support us via Amazon by clicking the link below

Emptybox diy 003

DYK 003 -Circular Economy

Have you heard the term “circular economy” before?

A circular economy is a systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like biodiversity loss and waste.

you can now support us via Amazon by clicking the link below

emptybox insider

EmptyBox Insider – Lillian Taylor

Meet our executive director

Lillian is a 20 years technology sales veteran with a background in finance and c-suite decision analytics, currently working for IBM representing the Watson and AI Brands. After seeing the utter waste-collecting during the pandemic from direct shipments and helping a friend move after moving herself she saw a solution her entrepreneurial genes couldn’t ignore.

Knowing this problem has a global impact she reached out to her network, learned more about the environmental implications, and decided to form a nonprofit to make an impact.

Born in NY, an airforce brat, she was raised in Texas and moved to Seattle in 2011. She has three adult daughters, Amanda, Katherine, and Mya. She lives with her partner Greg, and their dogs, Augustus, Lucy, and Linus.

Fun Fact: Lillian’s mother and uncle (twins) came over from Cuba unaccompanied at age 16 during Operation Pedro Pan for which her grandparents, who were a lawyer and gift shop owners, were held by Castro’s police in 1962.

emptybox diy 002

DYK 002

Did You Know?

Food packaging is an important aspect of food items because it protects the food from biological, chemical, and physical damage while it is being transported from the production to the customer. Furthermore, food packaging accounts for roughly 60% of cardboard usage.

If you have found yourself having tons of cardboard food packaging lying around your house, please try to recycle/upcycle them as much as possible.

you can now support us via Amazon by clicking the link below

Join us next Thursday for more environmental related facts.

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DYK 001

Did You Know?

The cardboard boxes you have lying around were first commercially produced in 1817 in England by Sir Malcolm Thornill

Join us next Thursday for more environmental related facts.

Global Recycling Day

Global Recycling Day

Global Recycling Day was established in 2018 to raise awareness of the necessity of recycling
in conserving our valuable natural resources and ensuring the planet’s future. It is a day for the
entire world to unite and prioritize the planet. Global Recycling Day has two primary goals:

  1. To persuade world leaders that recycling is far too essential to be treated as a national
    issue and that a coordinated, global approach to recycling is urgently required.
  2. To invoke thought among individuals to think resource and not waste, when it comes to
    the commodities they come into contact with – until this happens, we won’t be able to
    give recycled goods the genuine value and repurposing they deserve.

Here’s where EmptyBox enters the loop. Our mission is to promote the reuse of cardboard
packaging in a circular fashion. Cardboard is a biodegradable substance that degrades more
quickly than plastics, resulting in a low environmental effect. However, if cardboard is not
properly recycled, it emits methane, which contributes to the current greenhouse gas problem; it
is clear that cardboard producers are under pressure, especially during the current rush of
events.
So recycling is an option right? While a single cardboard box can be recycled up to 7 times, the
process involves a tremendous amount of resources in transportation, water to turn it back into
pulp, the manufacturing process, and transporting to distributors. For many years the US
shipped large bales of OCC (old corrugated cardboard) to China, in 2017 they stopped
accepting those bales and more cardboard has been going into landfills. However, a box can
be used and reused for years. EmptyBox’a mission is to promote reuse through community
reuse stations and a peer to peer messaging application which is all in the works!
Therefore for Global Recycling Day, we encourage you to reuse your cardboard boxes as much
as possible if not donate them!