Old Corrugated Containers

Recycling, reusing and eliminating
corrugated cardboard

Corrugated boxes, also called old corrugated containers (OCC), are used to store, ship, protect and identify goods. A corrugated box has flat, outer sheets of dense fiber which sandwich an inner ruffled or "corrugated" layer.

Corrugated recycling and reuse have been practiced since the 1880s, due to the material's durability, relatively low reprocessing cost and high value. Made from trees, it's a resource too valuable to waste.

What are businesses doing?

Here are some Minnesota Waste Wise examples of businesses both recycling OCC waste and preventing it altogether through source reduction.

Recycling: St. Mary's Medical Center began recycling in 1989, with encouragement from their waste hauler. Soon, the Medical Center bought a baler for corrugated boxes and paper. Due to limited storage space at the Medical Center, the hauler does daily pickups of the 2-3 bales of corrugated generated each day.

Savings from OCC recycling: Every quarter, the Medical Center bales more than 25 tons of corrugated for a savings of approximately $3,100 in avoided disposal costs. While they do not sell the OCC for a revenue, they still save over $12,000 per year.

Source Reduction: The medical center also collaborates with its vendors to reduce the packaging used to ship supplies; instead of packing and shipping items in corrugated boxes, vendors now use only shrink-wrap to secure them onto pallets.

Recycling: Hayfield Window and Door has recycled corrugated boxes and paper successfully for over five years, but getting started was a challenge. Employees were accustomed to throwing waste materials in trash cans instead of in recycling bins. The company helped change employee habits by clearly labeling and placing recycling bins in convenient locations, and by supporting model behavior.

Savings from OCC recycling: Hayfield recycles nearly 30 tons of corrugated boxes per year, as well as a few tons of paper. The OCC is stored outside until they have a truckload quantity. Hayfield uses their own truck to transport the baled corrugated to an end-user. This saves the company $22,200 in annual avoided disposal costs. Not including shipping costs, revenue for the delivered OCC is more than $3,300 a year. The total savings for OCC recycling is over $25,000 annually.

Source Reduction: Hayfield Window and Door reduced the amount of waste produced in their manufacturing process by ordering vinyl extrusions in lengths that match their common saw cuts. The company also trains employees on how to maximize use of all raw materials.

Recycling: Following their environmental policy, Doug's Supermarket researched ways to optimize their use and disposal of OCC. They found that recycling was the most cost-effective option to manage their OCC. Baling the corrugated for recycling, as opposed to compacting, promised the best return. With an initial investment of $10,000, the baler paid for itself in 1½ years.

Savings from OCC recycling: The company bales and recycles approximately 94 tons of corrugated boxes each year. More than $4,000 is saved through avoided disposal costs, and $2,500 in recycling revenue is generated each year. Although, due to their rural location, they have encountered some difficulty in finding companies to pick up their baled corrugated, the supermarket compensates by storing the bales until they have a large enough quantity to make it economical for the hauler to collect.

Even though the store has more than doubled in physical size and increased sales substantially, their garbage has been decreased by 60 percent due to recycling. Six full dumpsters of waste each week has been reduced to less than three.

Source Reduction: The store has also made efforts to "reduce at the source" the amount of waste it generates. Not including labor and disposal cost savings, the supermarket saves $900/year by purchasing cleaning supplies in bulk and by using reusable containers. An additional $300 in purchasing costs are saved each year by hiring a laundry service to provide reusable cleaning towels instead of disposables. Though individual source reduction actions may not seem significant, their total can add up to large savings — savings which continue to accrue as long as the least wasteful action is practiced.

How to increase corrugated recycling revenue

Step 1: Determine how much waste corrugated (OCC) you generate.

Collect at least a week's worth of OCC in one location. Use a tape measure or a ruler to measure the volume of corrugated that is (pick one or more):

• Manually flattened and stacked.
• Compacted by machine and stacked.
• Baled by machine.

Determine if the week's sample is representative. If not, sample over a longer time period. The volume of OCC collected in an average week multiplied by 52 weeks will show the volume you generate in a year.

Make a list of contaminants in the corrugated, such as tape, foam padding, and plastic- or wax-coated corrugated. The more contamination, the lower the value of the OCC. You may also work with your suppliers to find alternative packaging methods or materials that eliminate these contaminants.

Once you have estimated the volume of the waste OCC, you can calculate its weight with the following conversion figures.

Now you know the approximate volume, weight and amount of contamination of the corrugated you have to sell. You also can see the reduced volume of waste still needing disposal in dumpsters.

Step 2: Determine who should pick up the OCC.

Here are some helpful places to begin.

• To compare services, contact your county solid waste office which is likely to maintain a lists of haulers and recycling drop-off centers in your area. The quantity, quality and distance required to haul the OCC to market affects its value.
• Contact your current hauler to determine what specific services they can provide and what the cost will be. Some haulers are willing to charge a set rate for hauling large volumes and let the business keep recycling revenues.
• For a statewide listing of haulers, buyers and sellers of recyclables, contact the OEA at 651-296-3417 or 800-657-3843 toll free for a free copy of the 1997 Minnesota Recycling Directory. Also available for free is the Resourceful Waste Management Guide, which provides similar listings specific to the Twin Cities Metropolitan area.

When you contact a hauler or recycler, ask:

• What is the price for recycling (your collected volume of corrugated)?
• What is the disposal cost (for your remaining volume of waste)?
• What can you do to increase the value of your waste corrugated?
• How often will the hauler pick up?
• Does the hauler provide any training materials or containers for recycling?

If you generate large amounts of corrugated, some "end-use" manufacturers may provide large containers or trailers to store your baled material on site. If you generate small amounts, consider self-hauling to a drop-off center or cooperating with other nearby businesses to arrange joint collection.

Step 3: Identify equipment needs.

Is a baler in your future?

Is it more cost-effective for you to supply your hauler with loose, compacted or baled corrugated? Loose or compacted OCC does not maximize value of the material like baled OCC does, but a even a basic baler will cost upwards of $5,000. Depending upon market conditions, you can expect about $20-40 more per ton for baled as opposed to compacted OCC. Does it pay to bale? The higher your volume, the faster the payback.

There are two basic types of baling machines for OCC.

• Vertical (or downstroke) balers, which range from $5,000-40,000, are generally used by small- and medium-sized generators (minimum of 20 tons/year).
• Horizontal balers – which start around $20,000, but can range up to $700,000 for the largest systems –are often used by larger generators of OCC (125-300 tons/year). These balers are faster, have greater capacity, and make larger bales than vertical balers.

The periodical Recycling Today did a special Baler Guide as a supplement to their February 1997 issue. This supplement goes into great depth about baler technology, includes a glossary and a vendor list, and is intended to help a company make an informed purchase decision. For a free reprint, call the OEA at 651-296-3417 or 800-657-3843 toll free.

If the cost of new equipment is prohibitive, look for used or remanufactured equipment. Lease options for equipment are sometimes available from a hauler or processor. Organizations can explore having the equipment donated.

Step 4: Implement recycling.

To establish an effective recycling program, or to optimize your existing recycling efforts, consider the following measures.

• Designate specific locations for collection and storage.
• Clearly label locations and containers, listing both acceptable and non-acceptable materials. Pictures and samples of materials are effective teaching tools.
• Inform and train current employees, and include education about recycling and source reduction in the training of new employees.
• Keep material clean. Contaminants decrease its value. Keep recycling containers free of such things as wet, wax- or plastic-coated, and rice-husk fiber corrugated boxes; boxboard, like cereal or soda pop boxes; plastic, rubber or metal bands; and other paper types.

Step 5: Ensure results.

Once you have started a recycling program, continue to support your efforts.

• Create and post an environmental policy.
• Make recycling and resource conservation a part of everyone's job description.
• Have an "answer person." Provide a staff contact for answers to common recycling and waste reduction questions. Share these answers company-wide; many others may have the same question but weren't willing to ask.
• Track and publicize progress. Document the environmental and cost savings to motivate employees and to apply for recycling awards. For a list of local, state and national award programs call the OEA at 651-296-3417 or 800-657-3843 toll free.
• Recognize employee efforts. Include an "environmental" section in the company newsletter, or present certificates, letters of recognition, plaques or a free lunch to high achievers.
• Share the good news! Trade associations and the local media often want the leads. Let your employees and community know you care about the environment as well as the economy.
• Join Minnesota Waste Wise, a voluntary program to recognize and help business prevent waste.

Remember source reduction

A growing number of companies are finding that elimination, reduction and reuse of corrugated boxes is even more cost-effective than simply recycling OCC.

Dataserv, Inc. (Chanhassen, Minn.), reuses corrugated boxes to ship circuit boards. Reusing the boxes two to three times saves Dataserv more than $26,000/year in purchasing costs.

Network Systems Corporation (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), supplies computer networking equipment. They reuse a corrugated box from one of their component suppliers to ship their finished product to retailers. This "pass-through" container is given a new label, and eliminates the need for a new box. This reuse saves over $4,000/year, and eliminates 9,200 pounds of waste.

General Mills, Inc. (Minneapolis, Minn.), redesigned their shipping containers. By placing their paperboard cereal boxes between two sheets of cardboard and securing with plastic strapping, they reduced corrugated waste by 30 percent — over 16 million pounds in 1995! Shortened flaps on other shipping boxes – "gap flaps" – reduced waste with no loss of protection for the product.

Several companies accept or buy "good-as-new" used boxes, unused boxes from surplus, and misprinted inventories for resale. Check your Yellow Pages under "Boxes - Used" for local firms offering this cost-saving packaging option.

Technical assistance

The Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance (OEA) can answer general questions on recycling or source reduction, give educational presentations or provide you with many free recycling publications and technical resources. For more information, call the OEA at 651-296-3417 or 800-657-3843 toll-free.

For additional individual assistance, join Minnesota Waste Wise. All the companies highlighted in this fact sheet are members of this innovative, voluntary program.

Minnesota Waste Wise (MWW) is a non-profit assistance program designed to help businesses create less waste, reuse more, and find new markets for waste materials. A program of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, MWW helps develop effective waste reduction and recycling programs. Benefits of membership include newsletters, a guidebook, site visits and individualized assistance. Membership is $100. Call 651-292-4681 or toll-free 800-821-2230 for more information.

Updated 11/98