Shredded Cardboard for Packaging: What Are the Benefits?

Cost-cutting was once viewed as an unpleasant term, but when it comes to waste management procedures, it becomes much more respectable.

Successful businesses constantly monitor their operations to find ways to improve, not only to save money but also to hit sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) targets. Recycling equipment can be a very creative approach to reduce your company's overhead costs by reusing the waste generated by your operations.

The Importance of Waste Management

Rubbish continues to be a big problem globally, with an estimated 33.8m tonnes of commercial and industrial waste generated in England alone, in 2020. While that figure is down from the 37.2m tonnes reported in 2018, it’s clear that more needs to be done by British businesses to reduce their impact on the environment. 

Adopting better waste management practices, such as using a cardboard baler or shredder, makes sound environmental sense. However, it can also save your business money – disposal can be costly, and it is often money that can be better used elsewhere in your organisation. 

What Can You Do With Your Old Boxes?

Businesses that generate a lot of waste often focus on the convenience of hiring a recycling company to come and collect their cardboard and dispose of it for them. However, your business’ old boxes could be turned into an asset rather than merely a by-product of your operations. 

Shredding your boxes with an industrial cardboard shredder can turn them into a very budget-friendly packaging material. Not only will you reuse your waste materials, but you’ll also eliminate the need to buy more expensive plastic alternatives, saving you money from hiring a recycling company to remove your refuse AND cutting your packaging costs. 

Even if your business doesn’t do a lot of shipping, you can still make good use of your leftover materials. A cardboard baler can efficiently batch up your clean cardboard into neat bundles, which you could sell to a recycling company. Increasingly, there are many companies who are prepared to pay for high-quality recyclable materials, so you may just have opened a new revenue stream. 

Why Should You Consider Shredding Your Cardboard?

Reduce Packaging Costs

If your business produces high volumes of waste cardboard, whether it's scrap or corrugated, then you may have a ready stream of cheap packaging available to you. An industrial shredder can help you quickly and efficiently repurpose your excess cardboard into protective packaging products, like shock absorbers. 

Not only are you keeping your refuse out of the landfill, but you’re also saving money on buying expensive plastic packaging, like bubble wrap or packing peanuts. 

Help the Environment

Perhaps one of the most enticing reasons for shredding your cardboard is to demonstrate your business’ eco-friendly credentials to your customers – each and every time they open a package from you! 

Made from trees (and often already recycled at least once), cardboard is a far more environmentally friendly packing material than plastic. Through recycling, you’re contributing to the circular economy and running your business more sustainably. Plus, you’ll have a lower carbon footprint to boot.  

Save Time and Space

There’s no doubt that voluminous cardboard debris takes up a lot of valuable storage space until it’s time for collection. Even with a baler, you’ll likely need several bins to hold your refuse until it’s taken away for disposal. Plus, you need to spend time bundling it up for collection. 

Shredding is a good alternative as you can efficiently turn it into a void-fill material that can go straight into your outgoing packages. Since you’ll no longer need to purchase packaging materials, you’ll have cut part of your supply chain and saved some time in your logistics processes. Additionally, cardboard shredders have a relatively small footprint, so you’ll only need minimal space to store the machine on-site.

Which Businesses Can Benefit Most From Shredding?

Shredding is most beneficial to those businesses that generate a substantial volume of cardboard waste AND regularly dispatch products to their customers. Import/export companies, retailers, distribution businesses and wholesalers all end up with huge surpluses of cardboard and may find it worthwhile to consider the value of shredding machines within their operations. 

Discover Our Commercial Cardboard Shredders

If you’re looking to explore better uses for your surplus cardboard, then QCR can help! We stock a wide range of industrial shredders, many of which can dispose of confidential waste with ease. Contact us today to learn more.