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What Happens When Cardboard Is Recycled?

In the majority of places in the United States, people can bundle cardboard or put it in bins and set out for curbside recycling. This simple act can have an enormous positive impact on the environment. It saves money, trees, space in landfills and energy, while preventing harmful greenhouse gases from furthering global warming.

  1. How Cardboard is Made

    • Like paper, cardboard is made from cellulose fiber from trees. Many times, people grow trees on plantations specifically to create paper and cardboard.
      Manufacturers cut the trees into wood chips which they chemically treat to release the cellulose fibers to create pulp to make paper. They screen the pulp, flatten it with rollers and dry it into two pieces that make up corrugated cardboard. The smooth piece on the outside is called liner board, while the ribbed inner layer is medium.

    At the Mill

    • When recycled cardboard first reaches the mill, workers separate it from any other materials like plastic and aluminum. Paper items may be further separated depending on the steps required to treat it. They then press the cardboard into bales for transport to processing plants. In some cases, like paper, cardboard will need to go through a de-inking process.
      Once de-inked, the manufacturer pulps the corrugated cardboard and blends it with pulp from wood chips. This process mixes the old fibers of the recycled cardboard with the new fibers of the pulp from the wood chips, strengthening the material.

    Recycled Cardboard Products

    • Recycled cardboard goes to factories where they make it into various products including paperboard, brown paper bags and new cardboard for packaging boxes.

    Why Recycle Cardboard

    • According to Planet Ark, when cardboard breaks down in a landfill, it creates methane, a harmful greenhouse gas with a global warming capacity 21 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
      Cardboard is particularly environmentally effective when recycled since the fiber in cardboard has already been processed. Making cardboard products from recycled materials requires up to 99 percent less water and up to 50 percent less energy.

    How to Recycle Cardboard

    • Cardboard products can be recycled with paper products because the items are separated at the mill. Though both made of pulp, paper and cardboard have to undergo different processes to become recycled products. Household cardboard items that are recyclable include greeting cards, cereal boxes, egg cartons, pizza boxes, packaging boxes and manila folders.
      Keep the materials as clean as possible. Remove any plastic wrap. Remove wax-coated cardboard, which is not recyclable.

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