While there are many different kinds of cardboard, Old Corrugated Containers (OCC) is the industry term for the type used in common shipping boxes like those you receive when shopping online. OCC is a very common recycled material. In fact, corrugated packaging materials held a recovery rate of 92 percent in 2015.
Recycling OCC helps to reduce the amount of solid waste in landfills, which takes up an enormous amount of space: A single ton of OCC can take upwards of 9 cubic yards!
L.E.D.R. offers low-cost OCC recycling to the St. Louis and St. Charles regions for both commercial and residential construction and demolition projects, meaning you can rest easy knowing you are saving some money while also helping to protect the environment.
The Benefits Of OCC Recycling
Recycling OCC not only helps reduce the amount of solid waste produced, but also cuts down on the need to harvest fresh timber. Did you know that it takes 3 tons of newly cut wood to create 1 ton of cardboard? So any amount that you can replace with recycled paper product is beneficial.
The process for recycling OCC has been refined over the years and has become very straightforward:
- Collection: OCC is collected, sorted and pressed into bales for easy storage and shipping.
- Delivery: Bales are transported to paper mills where they can be broken down and recycled.
- Recycling: The old cardboard is shredded and mixed with water to create a fibrous pulp slurry. Contaminants are filtered out and the pulp is cleaned, drained, pressed and dried.
- Reuse: The now usable paper is then re-spooled and shipped back to box manufacturers to be made into new corrugated boxes.
The need for shipping materials will only grow as e-commerce continues to rise in popularity, meaning recycling OCC will become increasingly more important. Help do your part by keeping easily-recyclable OCC out of landfills by taking it to a proper recycling facility like L.E.D.R.
Contact L.E.D.R. Recycling to have a roll-off container dropped off on your construction site for easy recycling. You can fill it with all your C&D waste — including OCC — and we will sort, separate and recycle everything for you.
