Articles On The Demand For Corrugated Disregard The Importance Of Sustainability BY RACHEL KAGAN Over the last few months, there have been several articles about the in- creased demand for containerboard and corrugated cardboard boxes, due to the surge in online shopping during the pandemic.
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There was the Wall Street Journal’s “Card- board Boxes Have Never Been in More De- mand—or More Expensive” (March 30), FOX Business’ “Cardboard box prices skyrocket as COVID-19 pandemic causes spike in online or- ders” (April 8), and Business Insider’s “A surge in cardboard demand is causing a supply squeeze for box makers amid the online-shop-
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Rachel Kagan
ping boom” (May 20), to name a few. These articles were primarily about the impacts of the increased de- mand on paperboard manufacturing businesses, including rising prices and shipment delays of raw materials. And yet they barely mentioned the environmental attributes of containerboard and corrugated boxes, or the critical role that recycling plays in the sustainability of the paper packag- ing industry. Or even worse, provided misinformed comments about the industry. It was not until the very end of the Business Insider article that recycling was even mentioned: Terry Webber, Executive Director of packaging at the American For- est & Paper Association (AF&PA), said in a statement that “containerboard production in March increased nine percent compared to March 2020,” when the pandemic hit the U.S. The AF&PA also mentioned that boxes are the most recycled packaging in the U.S., which can help keep the supply chain sustainable for both retailers and customers. And while the Wall Street Journal article was accompanied by a link to a 2019 video, “Where Your Old E-Commerce Boxes End Up” (about card- board recycling), the focus of the article was about how the production of corrugated product increased 3.4 percent to 407 billion square-feet in the U.S. in 2020, with the price of containerboard increasing by $50 to an average $765/ton, with only one mention related to recycling: At a recent investor conference, Waste Management Inc. Chief Execu- tive Jim Fish said more e-commerce could boost the waste hauler’s recy- cling business, which collects cardboard curbside and sells it to be pulped anew for more boxes. Unfortunately, neither of these articles provided any additional context to explain the importance of why recycling helps keep the supply chain – and the industry – environmentally sustainable. The Paper & Paberboard Packaging Environmental Council (PPEC) is proud of our industry’s circular economy approach to managing paper packaging products, which are continually collected and recycled through residential and business recycling programs across Canada, allowing them to be remade into new paper packaging. Some key statistics: • 94 percent of Canadians have access to recycling • Canada recycles almost 70 percent of its paper and cardboard, making it among the top paper recycling countries in the world • The national recycling rate for corrugated boxes is estimated to be at least 85 percent CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
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www.boardconvertingnews.com
June 7, 2021
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