The Big BOX epidemic

In the summer of my first year at UBC, all students geared up to head home and move their belongings for storage. I made a quick run to buy the cardboard boxes to finish early packing and hold my spot for storage on campus. To my astonishment, all the stores nearby ran out of cardboard boxes and said they would restock only a week later. It wasn’t the demand that blew my mind but the sheer amount of cardboard boxes being used. UBC itself constitutes around 70,000 students who rely on cardboard boxes every year to move around and for storage. These numbers combined with several other universities and the business environment itself across the globe contribute to staggering amounts of cardboard waste in the landfills. 

During the pandemic, as the entire world resorted to online shopping for basic amenities and leisure, Amazon alone reported 13 million packages being delivered each day. While technology has revolutionized online shopping and convenience, it has today mandated a revolution in consumption and usage. Cardboard is claimed to be better than plastic and can also be recycled better than plastics can but, is this claim still credible with the exponential demand and consumption? 

What are we missing?

The recycling rates for cardboard are between 70% and 80% for the US and Europe alone. The majority of other countries do not engage in recycling practices or off-shore their waste problem. This “out-of-sight-out-of-mind” attitude of many countries is the ultimate reason why the recycling rates have still not improved and the landfills problem continues to rise. 

TIME Magazine’s Best Invention winner, Boox, has the above problem as their core mission. The company’s main goal is to recycle cardboard, refurbish and reuse them over and over again. They have partnered up with several companies in the US and UK to ensure their cardboards use less tape and labels and with components that help recycle the cardboard easily and without producing/contributing further waste. Their giveback is impressive and extremely organized which has encouraged consumers to engage in proper, responsible recycling activities. 

We have had solutions for such issues for decades now however, we still haven’t seen any change in the results. Companies like Boox are transforming the game through conscientious consumer practices and starting small.