Think you’re living green because you recycle cardboard boxes? You can be even greener by reusing them! Here’s why:
- It takes money and energy to move recyclable material from your bin to a recycling facility to a manufacturing plant and then to make it into a new product.
- At least some loads of cardboard we think we’ve sent off to be recycled end up in the landfill because they are contaminated with grease and food waste.
- Wood pulp fibres cannot be reused indefinitely. They tend to wear out by the seventh recycling.
Our top tip for reducing the cardboard box problem is try to reduce how many boxes come into your home: Buy in bulk, combine orders, buy less, and buy local. Many stores now offer curbside pickup.
But we understand that some online shopping is inevitable. In that case, reusing makes sense! It helps reduce taxes by reducing pressure on our recycling facility, extends landfill life, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
So what are some creative ways to reuse boxes? Well, the coolest idea we’ve seen is making a cat-scratching post out of stacked or coiled pieces of cardboard! You can find several designs for these online. Other ideas:
- Google all the different ways kids can use boxes for creative projects, including building everything from a playhouse to a rocket ship to a robot to doll house furniture. They can also cut them into mail-sized pieces, decorate the backs, and send loved ones one-of-a-kind custom postcards. Or make a wide variety of holiday ornaments out of cardboard. There are webpages full of creative ideas for cardboard crafts/gift items — picture frames, shape sorter toys, dominoes, bird feeders, even unique lamps! Consider challenging everyone in your family to make one gift out of cardboard.
- Save up a bunch of boxes and give them away to someone who’s moving (try offering them up a local Facebook freebie/sale site).
- Paint or cover boxes with contact paper or cloth to create pretty storage bins. Resist the urge to buy plastic ones that will never decompose! Every plastic bin ever made still exists.
- Cover flat pieces of cardboard with contact paper to make place mats or with fabric to make drawer dividers.
- Use to store off-season clothing and toys. Cardboard is actually better than plastic for storing cloth items, as plastic can seal in dampness and odors.
- Twist holiday lights, electric cords, yard, string, etc. around pieces of cardboard to prevent tangling.
- Use empty liquor boxes with dividers to store ornaments, light bulbs, and other delicates.
- Flatten boxes and use them as a dropcloth when painting walls or doing other renovations.
- Cut cardboard into a bunch of strips the same size, glue them together, and use them as a kneeling pad in the garden.
- Cut down the sides on boxes to create trays for starting seedlings in the spring.
- Line garden pathways with cardboard to suppress weeds.
- Tear them into pieces and put them in your composter. Remove all plastic tape and avoid composting any pieces with coloured inks.
Good luck in your journey to reduce the amount of boxes in your life! And let us know if you end up creating something special from a box. We’d love to see a photo.
