The first cardboard box was made in England in 1817 while the first patent for corrugated cardboard boxes was given in 1856. It was not, however, until the late 1800s that cardboard became a preferred way to ship things to stores and consumers through mail-order catalogs. Today, each person in the United States generates about one pound of cardboard waste every day. The great news is that most of that cardboard can be recycled.
While the first reason that comes to most people’s minds for cardboard recycling in New Jersey is that trees do not need to be cut down to make new boxes, there are many other reasons to recycle cardboard. That is true as each ton of cardboard recycles saves 17 trees. Recycling cardboard only takes about 75 percent of the energy needed to make a new box. Recycling one ton of cardboard saves 4,000 kilowatts of electricity and 6.6 million BTUs of energy. It also saves 7,000 gallons of water.
In addition to saving natural resources, it is important to save space in the landfills. Approximately 165 billion cardboard boxes are made in the United States annually. Yet, only about 75 percent of them are recycled. The remaining 4.3 billion are thrown into the landfill. Since there are approximately 2,500 boxes in a ton, people are throwing away over 1,720,000 tons of cardboard each year.
Cardboard boxes are normally recycled to make new cardboard boxes. After the boxes are collected, then they are taken to a facility to be sorted by type. Then, they are put in a special solution made many of water to help them decompose faster. At this point, they are pulp. The pulp runs through special filters that remove the dye and any foreign debris. Then, the pulp is mixed with about 25 percent new wood chips. The pulp mixture is then run through large dryers to remove any moisture before it is run through machines to create new cardboard boxes. The whole process can take less than two weeks.
If you own a business in New Jersey or Eastern Pennsylvania, then you need to consider calling All County Recycling about recycling your cardboard. If everyone does even a little bit, then fewer natural resources are wasted on making cardboard boxes and less space will be needed in landfills. The great news is that you can even make money through the sale of cardboard helping your company’s bottom line grow bigger.
If you are ready to get started with cardboard recycling in New Jersey, then call All Country Recycling at (609) 393-6445. These friendly professionals will help you learn more specifics so that you can get started today.
