Companies that ship products almost certainly need to buy and use corrugated boxes. Corrugated cardboard boxes are made of kraft paper in different paper weights to give a cardboard box strength. In a typical simple wall box there are 3 papers. An inner lining, a medium (striated) and an outer lining constitute the corrugated construction.
The paper comes from the trees. As trees are not a sustainable resource, recycled paper has become a big business. But more than the commercial requirements, it is the environmental demand. Recycling paper in the waste stream has become so efficient that with modern technology, corrugated cardboard manufacturers produce paper shipping boxes that are 100% fiber after consumption.
Companies that try to be green are always looking for ways to be more "green". Many custom promo boxes know how to be more "green", but the cost is prohibitive or the end result is a diminished product or process and therefore nothing changes. Fortunately for companies that use corrugated products, there is a solution that not only returns the waste to the usable packing stream, but does so without an increase in cost and without loss of performance in most cases.
The users of corrugated boxes are afraid that the liners on recycled paper in corrugated paper will not have the same resistance as their counterparts to 100% virgin corrugated paper. This concern has been identified through the use of an Edge Crush test (ECT, primarily initiated for recycled paper manufacturers) versus a Mullin (puncture) test. Since recycled paper fibers are shorter than virgin paper fibers, perforation has been a real problem with corrugated paper made from recycled paper in the past.
Today, corrugated and paper mills produce corrugated and recycled corrugated boxes tested with the same strength as those of the virgin fiber variety, and this is not limited to 200 # carton. Paper card combinations are available to create boards testing from 150 # to 350 # resistance cards. Some of the only drawbacks are that they cannot produce a bleached paper liner (white) and with high humidity or moisture, the paper breaks down faster than virgin paper.
Printing is also not a problem with 100% mailboxes. Box converters print both gradient and screen prints on recycled custom boxes, providing the same look you would expect from a custom printed virgin power corrugated box. As they go even further toward the green on the planet, most boxing manufacturers offer soy-based inks. Soy-based inks are greener than oil-based inks because they are made from sustainable land-based materials.
Don't be afraid of the cost. In most cases, there is no cost difference between corrugated virgin fiber sheets and 100% recycled corrugated layers after consumption. After all, although some corrugators have some minimal restrictions on corrugated square feet, they are only minimal!