American Forest & Paper Association Releases June 2020 Containerboard Monthly Report

Drive down almost any street in America and you’re bound to see them— brown shipping boxes (many made by Georgia-Pacific). They’re stacked up in apartment complex offices; slung on front porches and lining the back doors of many businesses. Ecommerce demand has tended to be more seasonal because of holiday shopping, but the last several years the seasonality has flattened somewhat as online purchasing has become more common throughout the rest of the year. The pandemic is also having an impact on demand. In fact, COVID-19 has created approximately a 30-40 percent increase in demand for boxes, as many are ordering online to decrease in-person shopping trips. Unlike the grocery store, there is no “paper or plastic” option in your online cart. These days, almost everyone gets a box (or a shipping envelope) and those home deliveries are expected to continue. Georgia-Pacific has 40 operations in the U.S. dedicated to making brown paper (called containerboard) and converting that paper into boxes of all kinds. Watch this 1-minute video for some behind the scenes “How It’s Made” footage.

Waddington Europe, a division of Novolex®, has joined forces with its longstanding packaging distribution partner Produce Packaging to introduce containers made with 100% recycled material that are also 100% recyclable after use. Produce Packaging’s new containers will be made with Waddington Europe’s Eco Blend™ 100 material that consists entirely of a combination of post-consumer (PCR) and post-industrial (PIR) recycled PET (rPET). The new containers will be available to all Produce Packaging customers, including growers, packers and importers that supply major retail outlets. The switch to Eco Blend 100 reflects the decision by Produce Packaging to focus increasingly on packaging that is environmentally sustainable.

Kellogg’s, in partnership with Tesco, have announced that it will trial paper liners within cereal boxes in a select number of stores from January 2022. According to the company, the plastic inner liner in cereal boxes is not currently widely accepted in kerbside recycling. The new paper liner is reportedly recyclable and will make Kellogg’s entire cereal packaging paper-based, as the cereal’s outer card packaging is already fully recyclable. The new packaging, developed by Kellogg’s packaging technologists, is apparently suitable for the process of filling and sealing bags inside of cereal boxes that takes place at the company’s factory, as well as for transporting the cereal to retailers.