State of the Industry: Folding Cartons — Doing Well and Getting Better

Sustainability’s impact

The Paper Industry Association -Council states that paper and paperboard accounted for 75 percent of all packaging material recovered in 2006, making paper the most recovered packaging material. According to the Paperboard Packaging Alliance, a joint venture between the AF&PA and PPC, “Paperboard packaging’s familiar list of customer benefits—versatility, stackability, billboard effect—includes one additional attribute that speaks right to the core concerns of the environmental consumer: sustainability.” It states that the U.S. forest products industry plants an average of 1.7 million trees every day. Furthermore, during 2007, an all-time high 56 percent of the paper consumed by the United States was recovered for recycling. Elphick is hoping sustainability will increase his business. “We’re banking on paperboard getting increased demand,” he says.