Unlike many of the resources we extract from the earth, paperboard is inherently renewable and recyclable. We can’t grow new gold to replace what we’ve mined, nor can we extract additional oil once we’ve exhausted a well. Yet sourcing paper from managed tree farms and recycling paperboard packaging creates a virtually endless supply of paperboard, the production and consumption of which has a minimal environmental impact and promotes a sustainable world.
Renewable
Did you know that the trees used to make paper are crops, just like apples or corn? This may sound strange, as many of us are familiar with the myth that forests are destroyed when we use paper. But here are the facts: virtually all virgin paperboard consumed in the United States today originates from certified tree farms where trees are planted, harvested, and replanted specifically to be used in packaging, paper, and other consumables. The milling of paper actually increases the number of trees on our planet; for every tree harvested from a managed tree farm, five more are planted, adding 1.7 million trees every day! (AF&PA).
Trees are also the most powerful concentrators of carbon on Earth. In fact, one acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and emits four tons of oxygen (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture). So, in addition to providing us with paperboard packaging, managed forests absorb carbon and help our ecosystem remain in balance.
Recyclable
When we throw something away, it does not magically cease to exist because we can no longer see it; for decades, this “out of sight, out of mind” mentality has sent tons of potentially reusable materials to landfills. But as we have become more cognizant of our impact on the environment, expansive recycling programs throughout the United States and Canada have diverted paper from landfills.
In fact today, 96% of the U.S. population has access to curbside or drop-off paper recycling programs (AF&PA), and paper-based packaging accounts for 71.3% of the nearly 27 million tons of packaging materials recovered for recycling (U.S. EPA). Paperboard is simply the most easily recyclable packaging substrate in the marketplace. Whereas paperboard is inherently recyclable, there are seven major grades of plastic, some of which are difficult to recycle and most of which cannot be intermixed.
There is no question that recyclable, renewable paperboard is finding its way back into the hands of consumers at an explosive rate. Today, more than half of the products on supermarket shelves are packaged in recycled paperboard (Pulp & Paper Factbook). Indeed, paperboard has proven itself to be the reusable, recyclable substrate for today’s environmentally-conscious consumer.
Sustainable
Sustainable practices, as defined by the United Nations, are those that “meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their [own] needs.” Since paperboard is renewable and recyclable, when we produce paperboard packaging or purchase products packaged in paperboard, we are participating in sustainable practices that will not impinge upon future generations’ potential to prosper. Indeed, when we choose paperboard, we do more than simply meet our own needs; we take a step forward in creating a beautiful, sustainable world that our children and grandchildren will be grateful to inherit.