4330 Kingsway, Burnaby, B.C. V5H 4G8

Demand Side Management Telephone: (604) 432-6375 Fax: (604) 436-6811 Website: Corrugated Cardboard www.gvrd.bc.ca

WHAT IS IT? WHERE CAN YOU RECYCLE CARDBOARD? QUICK Corrugated boxes are used for packing, storing and transporting Corrugated cardboard can be recycled at depots, in municipal FACTS products to factories, warehouses, retail stores, offices and homes. curbside collection programs and through private recyclers. Corrugated boxes are also known as old corrugated cardboard Waxed or contaminated corrugated cardboard (cardboard 10,000 tonnes (OCC) if the boxes have been deposited into a recycling bin. covered with grease, oil, paint or other materials) is not of corrugated cardboard were Cardboard is the most widely recycled of all packaging materials. recyclable and should be placed in the garbage. recycled in 1996 by GVRD residents – 10% Corrugated boxes have a fluted, corrugated medium layer (rippled of what they generated. layer), sandwiched between layers of linerboard. 106,000 tonnes of corrugated cardboard is recycled by GVRD businesses every year.

30 - 90 kg/m3 is the density of uncompacted corrugated cardboard. When compacted, the density increases to 180 CARDBOARD BOX – 300 kilogram per cubic metre. Rolled Paper is wound on a Collected reel and sized for Cardboard collected and 65% was the shipment to plant. taken to a sorting facility. average amount of recycled content of Sorted & Baled corrugated cardboard Separated from other boxes shipped in paper products then Canada (in 1998) up baled. Dried about 20% from ten Sheets are The Life years ago. passed over a series of hot rollers. of a 77% of the Hydropulped corrugated cardboard Mixed with water and pulped boxes used in Canada are Cardboard until the right consistency is recycled or reused, achieved. Pressed according to the National Water is squeezed Box Packaging Survey (1996). from the sheets. Cleaned More than Contaminants such as plastic, string, metal fasteners and 97% of the inks used dirt are removed. for printing on Rolled Pulp pressed corrugated cardboard through formers to boxed are water-based make sheets. and non-toxic.

Disperger Cleaned & Screened Pulp runs through insulated Pulp moves through final pipes that melt any wax or cleaning process. adhesives.

WHO GENERATES CORRUGATED CARDBOARD? WHAT IS THE VALUE OF CARDBOARD? Sources • residents Like any recyclable commodity, the market price fluctuates. The CH2M Hill Engineering • schools Ltd. (Vancouver, B.C.) factors that affect the price of corrugated cardboard include mill January 1993 • retail stores capacity, the general provincial and national economic health, Greater Vancouver Regional District • warehouses expanding recycling programs (such as the municipal blue box Waste Flow & • restaurants Recycling Audit programs) and material bans. • other businesses Crown Packaging, B.C. WHY IS CORRUGATED CARDBOARD BANNED

FROM GARBAGE DISPOSAL IN THE GVRD? EPA Web site WHAT IS CORRUGATED CARDBOARD RECYCLED Corrugated cardboard was banned from disposal facilities in INTO? Paper and Paperboard 1998 because the recycling infrastructure is solidly in place and Packaging • new boxes Environmental

• boxboard (cereal boxes, laundry soap boxes, gift boxes, there are recycling programs. Municipal recycling programs www.ppec-paper.com tissue boxes and the like) (depots and curbside pick-up) are accessible to residents. Private companies offer cardboard recycling to businesses. • gypsum wallboard liner

• roofing felt (used in home renovation and building) • kraft paper (for bags and wrap) Tips………………….. • tubes

• core board (used by manufacturers for tissue toweling, REDUCE giftwrap and packaging materials If you normally shop for groceries and pack your purchases in RECYCLING QUESTIONS? boxes, take cloth bags or reusable containers instead. call the RCBC WHAT ARE CONTAMINANTS? Recycling Hotline Contaminants include wax coatings, plastics, food, garbage, metal REUSE at 604-732-9253 or 1-800-667-4321 fasteners, staples, and nails. Contaminated corrugated cardboard • Build a kids’ playhouse (appliance boxes). can affect the functioning of the machinery and can result in poor • Create crafts such as airplanes, doll cribs, robots or Other Just the quality paper. It also results in increased waste, higher maintenance mobiles. Facts available: Aluminum costs and increases risk to processing equipment. • Use boxes for storage – clothes, mementos, moving, Composting camping gear, magazines. Glass Grasscycling WHERE IS IT PROCESSED? • Save boxes for wrapping gifts when required – you can Newspaper Crown Packaging, located in Burnaby, B.C., is the only corrugated decorate the box with ribbons or leftover paint. Plastics cardboard consuming mill in the province. This mill uses corrugated SWMP 2000 • Find new uses for boxes that saves you money such as cardboard to manufacture gypsum wallboard liner, boxboard and the To obtain, go to turning a box into your desk-side recycling container at middle corrugating medium (the ripple part) in corrugated cardboard. www.gvrd.bc.ca your home office. or call The material from this mill is shipped to gypsum wallboard 604-432-6200. manufacturers and box plants. RECYCLE Ensure that you remove any contaminants and excessive tape. As an energy source, 90 per cent of the steam the Crown Packaging Flatten and place in the appropriate recycling container or take mill uses comes from the GVRD Incinerator located adjacent to the to a depot. mill site.

Corrugated cardboard is also processed in mills located in Ontario,

Quebec, Washington, Oregon and overseas in Korea and China.

Updated Feb. 2004