Sustainability
Initial Thinking and Stages of the Box Re-Use Before Recycling Movement
Eco Latch Systems, LLC, was founded in 2010 by two Wisconsin brothers. Their goal: lower the cost of doing business and reduce the impact on the environment by educating companies and the public on the re-use of corrugate boxes. Leveraging their life experiences in the business world, these company founders set out to create an easy-to-use, box flap closure system that would replace tape. Just as Velcro changed the way the world replaced shoe laces, zippers, and other clasping devices, the objective of Box Latch™ Products is to shift today’s paradigm from recycling corrugate to re-using it by “Changing the way the world closes and re-uses boxes!”
New Opportunities in Supply Chain Sustainability
Research completed during the invention, patenting, and manufacturing of the Box Latch™ exposed some alarming statistics. 90% of cardboard boxes are used once.1 For every ton of cardboard that is re-used, we can save:
- nine cubic yards of landfill,
- 380 gallons of oil,
- 4,000 kilowatts of energy,
- 7,000 gallons of water and
- 17 trees – saving 64% of the energy, 58% of the water, while eliminating 60 lbs. of air pollution!
Moreover, these 17 trees can absorb a total of 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air each year. Burning that same ton of paper would create 1,500 pounds of carbon dioxide.
With each ton of bundled corrugate that is re-used instead of recycled, the savings are magnified by eliminating the labor, transportation, and energy costs of recycling.
Re-Use these boxes three, five, or more times and the cost and environmental savings are extraordinary.
When possible, re-using boxes in a business environment only makes sense (cents!) With box re-use, manufacturing, distribution, and storage facilities are better able to reduce their operational costs in a triple bottom line manner – generating benefits for their people, our planet and their profit margins.
Proud to join the ASBC as a business member in 2017
Click here to learn more about ASBC
Click to learn more about Cardboard box recycling
Click to learn more about how many boxes come out of a tree
Ask us to see and use our fact finding, Box Latch™, costs savings calculator as applied to your situation.