A New Case for Paperboard Packaging?

To be fair, everyone in the industry is trying to do better. Our brothers supplying plastic containers made from PET or HDPE have redoubled their efforts to use less and recycle more. Manufacturers of plastic packaging can claim that their products are eco-friendly and more recyclable until their pipelines burst, but two things will always be true. First, there’s only so much oil left on the planet, so no matter how much petrochemical-based packaging is reused, it is not and never will be a renewable resource. Second, the United States cannot produce enough petrochemicals on its own to meet the current demand for plastic. If we want to make packaging from polyethylene and PVC, we’re going to have to continue to import the oil to refine and convert it. As President Obama observed in his inaugural address, “The ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.” The same is true of packaging.