Cardboard & Paper Packaging

Cardboard and paper packaging take up a great deal of space, and after a while the bulkiness can become overwhelming.  About 30 percent of the trash we throw away every day is packaging of some kind.  30 percent!  That’s a big chunk of trash!  What can we do to reduce the amount of wasteful paper products we throw away?  Recycle them!  Used paper can be blended with water and turned into even more paper, without having to cut down more trees.  This way, the paper that we use can be used again, and the environment can breathe a little easier.

The easiest way to reduce the amount of paper packaging we throw away every day is to stop buying products that use the excess packaging.  Sounds easy, doesn’t it?  Buy products that use less packaging and reducing the amount of plastic, paper and cardboard they use.  These products should be commended for their efforts to reduce waste.  Buying in bulk instead of buying single-serving products also reduces waste.  The easiest way to reduce the amount of paper you bring into your home is to buy your own reusable shopping bags.  They cost a little more up front, but they pay for themselves after only a few uses.

Recycling paper packaging

Recycling paper packaging is beneficial to everyone.  The overwhelming majority of the recycled paper and cardboard created is used to create packaging.  So most packaging is already recycled.  Cardboard that is used to box up large appliances like washers, dryers, and refrigerators are easy to recycle.  The smaller boxboard that’s used in the packaging for cereal boxes is also recyclable.  Non-recyclable cardboard and paper includes anything that was used for packaging food, whether the food was raw or cooked (like pizza boxes or containers with raw food).  It’s not a total waste, though.  While they cannot be recycled, they can be composted.

Recycling paper packaging is a big problem, because not only do most people not know what to do with it, when they actually do something with it, they do the wrong thing by tossing it in the trash.  Let’s recycle that, shall we?  It just makes sense.  Considering most cardboard and paper packaging is already made out of recycled materials, putting it right back into the system is more natural than turning it into garbage.  So, if you have a lot of extra cardboard and paper packaging lying around, recycling it is not only the best way to get rid of it, it’s the most environmentally friendly way too.

Tags: Cardboard, Packaging Materials, Packaging Supplies, Paper Packaging, Recycling

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 at 10:09 am and is filed under Paper Packaging. You can subscribe to any comments to this entry via RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.