Cardboard Recycling
What are the benefits of recycling your cardboard?
There is a range of benefits that come from recycling cardboard, as the other alternative is putting it into a landfill. We go through some of the benefits that may make you consider a specific recycling service for cardboard to help you reduce your overall carbon footprint.
If you are running a business that deals with shipments and parcels of goods coming in or going out, you will most likely be dealing with a large amount of cardboard that could be going to landfills. If you don’t already use a cardboard recycling service, you may be able to benefit from doing so!
Less Waste To Put In Landfill
Landfill sites are commonly known to pollute the local environment, so the less we place into landfills, the better off we’ll all be. Recycling cardboard will re-purpose used cardboard which lessens the overall effect that the production and subsequent disposal of cardboard cause to the environment.
Reducing Your Cardboard Footprint
Choosing to recycle your cardboard instead of disposing of it at a landfill is a great way of reducing your carbon footprint. When we consider carbon emissions, a lot more is produced in the process of making paper vs. recycling it. If it takes less energy and less work to recycle cardboard/paper to produce new cardboard, then it’s a win-win for everyone.
It’s estimated that if everyone in the UK recycled their cardboard, approximately 587,000 tonnes of CO2 could be saved each year.
Helps To Save Energy
One of the most significant benefits of recycling cardboard is that it saves energy. The more we can recycle materials, the less energy we will need to create them from scratch, making the whole process much more efficient. The energy saved by recycling is particularly significant when it comes to recycling cardboard as the high-temperature process to make new cardboard requires a great deal of energy.
Save Trees
The amount of trees used in the paper and cardboard industry is alarming. It’s estimated that approximately 1.6 million trees are used to produce the cardboard that we use in the UK each day. Cardboard is a cellulose fibre, and trees are also cellulose fibres and so are able to be recycled and turned into new cardboard again. This means that by recycling cardboard, fewer trees will be cut down to create new paper.
Re-purposed
The majority of cardboard when it is recycled is either turned into new cardboard, used for packaging, or used as a fuel source. However, there are other uses for cardboard, including being turned into insulation, being used for scaffolding, and also for building materials.
How Do They Recycle Cardboard?
There are two main types of cardboard – paperboard and corrugated fibreboard.
Paperboard is mainly used for packaging and food containers, whereas corrugated fibreboard is used for making cardboard boxes. Paperboard is processed in a paper machine, where it is mixed with water and turned into a slurry. This slurry is then turned into pulp. The pulp is then mixed with a variety of chemicals in order to break down the pulp further, which is then processed into paper again.
Corrugated fibreboard is mixed with water, turned into a thick paste, and then baked to solidify. When the cardboard that’s collected is recycled, the same process occurs but using recycled cardboard instead.
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