FACTSHEETS
Paper facts that may surprise you.
- Paper packaging is the only packaging material that’s made from a renewable resource.
- Forest fires consume twice the area that’s harvested by the wood and paper industries annually.
- Just over 10% of all paper-based packaging is actually made from freshly-cut trees.
- Almost 70% of all paper-based packaging used in Canada in 1996 was re-used or recycled..
The only packaging material made from a renewable resource.
Paper is the only packaging material made from a renewable resource. All other packaging materials are made from non-renewable resources: plastic from non-renewable fossil fuels (oil and gas); steel from the mining of iron; aluminum from the mining of bauxite and glass from the mining of sandstone and silica.
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Less than 12% of Canadian boxes, bags and cartons are actually made from freshly-cut trees.
Shipments of corrugated and boxboard material for use in Canada were close to 70% average recycled content in 2006, according to a national paper industry association.
The Paper & Paperboard Packaging Environmental Council (PPEC) reports that the average recycled content of domestic shipments of material to be converted into corrugated boxes and boxboard cartons jumped 9% in 2006 to reach 66 per cent.
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Paper-based packaging edges closer to 60% average recycled content.
Recycled paper and board from industrial and residential sources (used boxes, bags and cartons, old newspapers, printing and writing paper, junk mail). Wood chips, shavings and sawdust left over from logging and sawmilling operations. Read more...
Most paper packaging is recyclable and/or compostable.
Most paper packaging is recyclable. The few exceptions are generally where wax or non-paper materials have been added to the paper so that the container can perform its particular packaging function ─ delivering a product in optimum condition to the consumer. Read more...
What happens to paper materials put out for recycling?
Most gets recycled! Into new boxes. A corrugated box could be made from a mixture of old corrugated boxes, corrugated cuttings, printing and writing paper, old cartons (boxboard) and wood chips, shavings and sawdust left over from logging and sawmilling operations. Average recycled content in 2006 was 66%. See PPEC website for details. Read more...
We can’t get enough!
It may come as a surprise to 33 million Canadians, but Canada itself will never produce enough used paper or board to supply the Canadian paper industry’s needs. We just don’t have enough! Canada’s newsprint recycling mills, for example, have to import about a million tonnes of old newspapers (ONP) from the United States every year so that they can meet the demands for recycled content newsprint from US and Canadian publishers. Read more...
Landfills get fat, not heavy!
Measurement by weight is commonly used to describe how much material enters a landfill or makes up a household’s waste stream. But when you think about it, it is not so much the weight of a material that fills up a landfill or a recycling truck as the volume of that material or the space it takes up. As they say, landfills get fat, not heavy! Read more...
Collecting all paper fibres together
Residential collection of paper fibres in Canada started with old newspapers being bundled together by Boy Scouts and Girl Guides as a fund-raising activity. As the newsprint mills became more heavily involved in recycling technology, old magazines, telephone directories and fine paper were added to the mix. Read more...
What does it really cost to divert paper materials from landfill?
The volume capacities of various recyclable materials, trucks and recovery facilities play a major role in determining recycling costs — something long suspected by municipal program operators but now confirmed by an independent industry study (October 1995). Read more...
Almost 70% of the corrugated boxes, paper bags and cartons used in Canada are re-used or recycled.
The latest National Packaging Survey indicates that
2.4 million tonnes of paper and paperboard
packaging was used in Canada in 1996. Some
345,000 tonnes of this (14%) was re-used and 1.3
million tonnes (54%) recycled for a total diversion of
almost 1.7 million tonnes (69%). Read more...
60% less paper packaging sent to landfill.
Canadians have slashed the amount of corrugated boxes, paper bags and cartons sent to landfill by an amazing 60% — from 1.9 million tonnes in 1988 down to 0.8 million tonnes in 1996. This despite an 11% increase in the number of packaging users (population) over the period. Read more...
Canadians’ success in diverting packaging waste.
Canadians have achieved a major success in packaging waste reduction and the paper packaging industry is delighted.“We’ve slashed our packaging trash by 51 — four years ahead of target,” says John Mullinder, spokesman for the industry’s environmental council, PPEC. “What’s even more remarkable is that we’ve achieved the national target despite an 11% increase in the number of packaging users.”1 Read more...
What’s the story on printing inks?
Canada’s paper-based packaging industry already meets the most stringent toxic (heavy metal) legislation in North America. The Paper & Paperboard Packaging Environmental Council (PPEC) acted on this issue way back in 1993, releasing the results of the survey of its 116-company membership. Read more...
One of the most environmentally friendly packages around.
Most boxboard cartons made in Canada are made from 100% recycled paper or board
The boxboard carton used to hold cereal and detergent, shoes, toys and crackers is probably one of the most “environmentally friendly” packaging materials around.
Paper packaging comes from trees, right? Read more...
The waxed corrugated challenge.
Waxes are applied in fish, poultry, meat and some vegetable packaging so that ice and water can be packed against the product, keeping it fresh. The wax may appear as a coating on the inside and/or the outside layer of the box. On others, the wax is impregnated into the ruffled fluted layer of the box, making it less visible. Because wax is not water soluble, however, waxed corrugated boxes have proven difficult to recycle. . Read more...
The composting alternative.
While most paper products are recyclable, sometimes they are just too far away from a recycling mill for recycling to be economically worthwhile. For example, there are limited or no suitable recycling facilities in the Atlantic or Prairie provinces for the recycling of some used paper packaging. Even rural communities in provinces where there are recycling mills are concerned about the costs of shipping generally low-value used paper long distances for minimal economic benefit. Read more...
The ethanol option.
PPEC played a key role in a 1992 joint government/industry study to see whether certain types of packaging waste could be economically converted into the alternative motor fuel, ethanol.
The council’s efforts were focused on waxed corrugated boxes, old boxboard, and non-recyclable industrial sacks. Read more...
Using recycled materials in food packaging.
Recycled paper and paperboard have been used in food packaging applications for many years and Canadian recycling mills undertake periodic tests to ensure the product that leaves the mill meets broad health parameters. Read more...
Reducing at Source - Making do with less.
At first sight it may seem strange that the paper packaging industry would actively promote the use of less packaging. But in fact paper packaging converters have always operated on the basis of reducing their production costs and persuading their various clients that their particular option will save the client more money. Read more...
Re-Use.
Re-use of paper-based packaging is more widespread than may seem obvious at first glance. And while some boxboard cartons and paper grocery bags are sometimes used again for similar or other purposes, it is the re-usable corrugated container (or retripper as it is known in the industry) that is most widely re-used. Some 14% of all corrugated boxes were re-used in 1996 according to a national survey commissioned by Canada’s environment ministers. Read more...
Corrugated boxes or plastic crates?
There is continuing debate over the
relative merits of shipping products in
corrugated boxes or plastic crates.
In environmental terms, there is no
clear “winner”, no authoritative life
cycle analysis (LCA) that substantiates
claims that one is “better” than the
other.
Read more...
Recycling.
Primary or (virgin) fibre harvested from logs is long and strong. It is prized for these qualities where
strength factors or health issues (the use of recycled material in direct contact with food or beverage,
for example) are paramount.
Read more...