Most Canadian Packaging Board now 100% Recycled Content

摘要

Most of the paper packaging material made by Canadian mills today is 100% recycled content. Old corrugated boxes and cartons are collected from the back of factories and supermarkets; used paper from offices; and a wide range of paper material gathered and sorted from residential (Blue Box) programs across the country. The increase in recycled content has paralleled the move of Canadians into towns and cities, offering the mills better opportunities to harvest the nearby urban forest of used paper and board. Initially the mills focused on recycling old corrugated (shipping) boxes and printing and writing paper from offices, then broadened their interest to residential (Blue Box) sources as those programs developed. In 1990, most Canadian cereal and shoe boxes (although made with 100% recycled content) ended up in landfill. PPEC (Paper & Paperboard Packaging Environmental Council) and its customers led North America in pioneering the further recycling of this material so that today some 94% of Canadians can recycle it. Most packaging mills in Canada now produce a 100% recycled content board. That is the way the mills were built. A handful of mills blend recycled material with sawmill residues (wood chips, shavings, and sawdust left over from lumber operations); or when sawmill residues are in short supply, freshly cut trees.