Recycling is a boon for nature that will help in preserving the environment and also reduce the stress humans put over Mother Nature. Ever since the world has become more and more aware of preserving the environment, the calls for recycling various materials have only increased their voice. A lot of big and small industries have now vowed to make use of recyclable material and not only use them but also recycle them for making or packing new products. Many recyclable items are being used today and heavy-duty cardboard boxes are one of them. Cardboard boxes are used for various things such as packaging, moving, and various other things. Cardboard is used in many places as it is durable and strong. It is used as packaging boxes, egg cartons, etc. The best thing about these boxes is that they are recyclable but for a long time now, calls have been made by recyclers that the recycling process of cardboard boxes is complex. So we have been working on creating a guide about what steps can be taken to reduce the load on the recyclers and how we and them can combine to make the recycling of cardboard boxes easier.
Table of Contents
Process of Collection
As the users of cardboard boxes for various purposes like boxes for mailing packages in a shipping supply company, we can make the process of recycling easier. The first step towards it is to collect the boxes in the right manner. The best way to collect such boxes is to create a separate space or assign a dustbin just for the cardboard boxes. Apart from this, the garbage collectors can keep these collected boxes separated from other garbage and then give these boxes to the recyclers. In a lot of countries, there are rag collectors who take these boxes from us and pay some amount in turn. They then earn by selling these boxes to the recyclers. It is a great way to collect cardboard boxes for recycling.
Sorting the Cardboard Boxes
Once the process of collection is complete, the process of sorting the cardboard boxes starts. The recyclers sort boxes based on the material they are made of. Since all cardboard is just paper on paper in form of multiple layers, the major segregation occurs in two categories, the corrugated boxes, and the boxboards. Boxboards are generally cardboard boxes used to package cereals, drinks, etc. The corrugated boxes are the ones that are used in places like packaging boxes for shipping. Apart from sorting out the boxes, there is another material too that sometimes comes with the boxes and are needed to be separated. Packaging boxes and bubble wrap are often used in shipping companies and so when the boxes used by them are processed by the recyclers, they have to separate the bubble wrap stored in them. The process of sorting is thus an important step to make recycling easier.
Shredding and Pulping
The next step to easier recycling is to shred the cardboard boxes into millions of tiny pieces. This process is done to make sure that all of the boxes are then used again to make cardboard or other firm material once again. The boxes are sent into a shredder which turns down hard cardboard boxes into millions of paper pieces. Water and other chemicals are then added to these pieces to turn them into a slurry and this process is called pulping. Then the pulp is processed by adding wood or other chirp material to make it firm again. This step helps in converting the used boxes into useful material again.
Removal of Impurities
After the material is solidified, it is sent into various machines for the process of removing any kind of impurities. Metal detectors are used to detect any kind of metal and it is then removed. It is sent into some kind of chemicals in which plastics float at the top and the pulp stays below, this way all of the plastic is removed. Various other steps are used to remove glue, staples, or any other kind of impurity. Special chemicals are used to remove any kind of ink or dye from the pulp. After this process, the pulp becomes as good as new for further usage.
Reuse
The last step here is to reuse the pulp to create more cardboard boxes. The pulp is used and some other chemicals are added to it for getting the paper-like finish. Then it is sent to be dried on a conveyor belt. After this, the solid paper is pressed layer over layer to form new cardboard boxes. Different thickness of layers makes different kinds of boxes like boxboards or corrugated boxes. This way all of the used cardboard gets reused for various purposes.
Summary
This guide to various steps for making recycling heavy-duty cardboard boxes is a great way for all people to understand how easy it is to collect, sort, and reuse cardboard boxes. Mother Nature has limited resources for us and we need to recycle as much as we can. The above article shows some important steps people on various steps taken to make the process of recycling easier. So it can be concluded that recycling cardboard boxes is not that hard if people know all the steps for doing so properly.