The corrugated industry has recorded new high points in corrugated recycling. Newly collected statistics show that the old corrugated containers (OCC) recovery rate hit an all-time high of 93% in 2015. The Corrugated Packaging Alliance (CPA) also announced a rise to 48% in the average recycled content of corrugated boxes. That’s higher than previous estimates, and an important part of corrugated’s sustainability record.
Corrugated’s recovery and reuse rates have long been ahead of other packaging materials’ rates, but it didn’t happen overnight. It took a prolonged and focused industry effort whose success can serve as an example to improve recycling rates for other packaging materials.