A Word About Recycling with Ollie Maier

We all have probably heard the term "Thinking outside the box,” thinking of new and improved/ easier ways to do things. Thus, when I saw an article in a recent Recycling Today newsletter entitled: “Thinking about the box,” I felt it might be something of interest and also informative.

The article started by posing the question “What does e-commerce mean for the containerboard and corrugated box industries and for OCC (old corrugated cardboard) recycling?”

E-commerce accounted for less than 1 percent of total retail sales, in 2000, and by 2009, it grew to about 4 percent. According to the Department of Commerce, by the third quarter of 2018, e-commerce accounted for 10 percent of total retail sales.

Now, many analysts believe online sales will triple to 30 percent of total U.S. retail sales by 2030. Why should this be of interest to us involved with recycling? It’s because E-commerce has already affected the containerboard and corrugated box industries and old corrugated containers recycling in many ways.

“Instead of most goods being shipped to retailers, an increasing number of products are shipped individually, directly to the consumer — gradually shifting more OCC to the residential recycling stream to be sorted at material recovery facilities — and more OCC are going into mixed paper.”

Although the demand for OCC has grown gradually for a number of years, it appears e-commerce will probably change the OCC markets.

A recent consumer survey showed eight out of 10 Americans shop online at least once per month or more. That includes my wife and me, including the Stihl chainsaw I just got through e-commerce this week. Additionally, almost one-third reported they purchase products online once a week. In comparison, eight out of 10 still shop retail at least once a month or more and half shop retail stores weekly.

What difference does it make if the OCC boxes end up in a business or in a home? To answer, let’s see what happens to the OCC that ends up in homes. Research into this in January of this year showed 4 percent of it is taken to a recycling dropoff site, 13 percent of it is recycled curbside, 28 percent is kept in the home for later use, but a whopping 56 percent is put in the trash.

Businesses average recycling about 95 of their OCC, as for most, it’s less expensive than putting it in the dumpster.

Also, with the growth of e-commerce, it might be interesting to see what the main products being shipped through it to homes consists of. As expected, the relative size of the product and box needed make a difference.

Clothing is probably the most frequently purchased e-commerce item because it is easy to pack and ship. Smaller and medium sized electronics also fit in this category as do some home furnishings. However, this is not true for larger appliances — stoves, washers and dryers, refrigerators, freezers, etc. Most of these larger items are purchased at retail stores.

That's enough for today, we will continue with this subject next week. Then we will discuss how many packages/boxes are being shipped annually — it’s a lot — as well as which companies currently do the most e-commerce and what growth they expect, what other packaging options are being researched, and so on.

Till next week, do have a great one...

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Ollie is a local citizen concerned with the environment and helping others. A retired Air Force fighter and instructor pilot, he is a graduate of Leadership San Marcos and received his degrees at Texas State University where he worked on staff before totally retiring. For questions or comments, he invites you to call him at 512-353-7432 or email omaier@txstate.edu.