Recycling has never been easier, with accessible recycling points across the country, as well as the government’s new waste system that allows you to organise your recycling at home. But, it is still important to be informed about the consequences of a world without recycling and look at what the statistics show about how our actions impact our environment.
- Around 80% of all products sold in the United States and the EU are packaged in cardboard.
- In the United Kingdom, approximately 5 billion corrugated boxes are used per year, amounting to around 83 per person.
- Recycling cardboard only takes 75% of the energy needed to make new cardboard and can be transformed from recycled material to finished product in as little as 14 days.
- After a few passes through the recycling process, paper and card fibres are too short to retain a structure and they wear out. The card recycling process can’t go on forever, which is why we still need to grow and fell trees. But it can reduce wastefulness, conserve energy and cut back on polluting chemicals. And since it’s made from wood pulp, it’s biodegradable anyway – so it’ll still have its uses.
- In the United Kingdom, cardboard has the highest recycling rate of any packaging in the world. Around 2 million tonnes of waste are being saved from landfill every year, just through the practice of recycling cardboard
- Advancements in technology and design have meant that packaging companies are using material that is around 20% lighter than it was a decade ago. This helps reduce waste whilst still offering the same structural stability.
- Peter Ryan from Melbourne, Australia, built a working house almost entirely out of cardboard.
- Recycling just one tonne of cardboard will save 46 gallons of oil, 4000kW of electricity, 6.6 million Btu’s of energy, 9 cubic yards of landfill space, 17 trees and 7000 gallons of water. These incredible statistics demonstrate the power of recycling and how, if every citizen does their part, we can save a lot of natural resources.
Benefits of Recycling Cardboard
Now that you know the facts and figures surrounding cardboard waste, you can make an active change to how you discard cardboard. With less cardboard filling up landfills, we improve the hygiene of our environment and decrease our environmental footprint.
