Cartonboard for folding cartons - this is how sustainable it really is

The world's greatest climate protectors are not people or innovations, they are forests. Why? One of the most important reasons is that forests store large amounts of carbon and thus play an important role in regulating the global climate. As trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere and convert it into biomass. This process is called a carbon sink. The carbon is then stored in the tree's biomass and helps reduce CO₂ levels in the atmosphere. Accordingly, the logical conclusion would be to reduce the use of products made from wood such as paper and cardboard. But it is not that simple.

The forest - it can do it all!

Forests also play an important role in regulating the water balance and creating microclimates. Microclimates refer to the climate in a limited area that differs from the climate in the surrounding area. This affects plant growth, animal behavior, and human health. Temperature, humidity, and air quality in the surrounding area are affected by forests. They can help mitigate the effects of climate change on local ecosystems and communities. In addition, forests are important habitat for many animal and plant species and play an essential role in maintaining biodiversity. Overall, forests are therefore critical to climate change mitigation and ecosystem conservation. Their protection and restoration is an important measure that must be taken to combat climate change. Approx. 80 % of the wood fibers processed in the cartonboard industry originate from sustainable forestry - key words FSC® and PEFC.

The FSC® seal - the first step in the right direction

The Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) is a non-profit organization that develops and manages certification systems for sustainable forest management worldwide. The FSC® has certain requirements that must be met in order to receive certification . Here are some of the most important requirements:

1. Protection of forests: Certification requires the protection of forests and their ecosystems. Forests must be managed to maintain their biodiversity, productivity and ecological processes.
2. Compliance with laws and international treaties: Forest management must be in compliance with national and international laws and treaties that protect indigenous rights and working conditions.
3. Consideration of social impacts: Forest management must also consider social and economic impacts, especially the rights and needs of local communities and workers.
4. Environmental sustainability: forest management must be in accordance with national and international laws and treaties that protect indigenous rights and working conditions.
5. Supply chain control: certification also includes supply chain control to ensure that wood and wood products come from certified forests and that verification is carried out from forest management to the final product.

By meeting these requirements, companies and organizations can obtain FSC® certification and ensure that their forest products come from sustainable sources. FSC® certification is an important measure to promote the protection of forests and the preservation of biodiversity, and to help combat climate change. At PackEx, we are of course FSC® certified. Therefore, you can be sure that we only use FSC® C106855-certified material for our packaging when producing your folding boxes.

PackEx goes one step further

FSC® certification is an important start. But even cardboard from Asia or America can come from sustainable forestry and still have a negative impact on the CO₂ balance of our planet. A major contribution to climate change is primarily made by the transport routes of resources that are imported and exported across the globe to different countries. Sourcing locally and using resources responsibly is therefore an important part of keeping our environmental footprint as small as possible. At PackEx, we place special emphasis on the origin of our cartonboard materials. We source them exclusively from Germany, Finland and Austria. It is important to us that every part of our value chain contributes to a responsible approach to the environment.

The production of sustainable folding cartons is even positive for the climate! How can that be?

But what many people don't know is that the production of folding cartons actually has a positive effect on the CO₂ balance. How is this possible? The cardboard for folding cartons consists exclusively of so-called weak woods. Weak woods are called small trees that have to be removed from the forest anyway so that strong large trees can grow undisturbed. These are later used as saw wood. Conversely, this means that NO trees have to be cut down for the production of folding boxboard. Only by-products of the manufacture of wood products are used. This is even important and correct! Because if the sawmill waste were not recycled but burned, it would release the bound CO₂ into the atmosphere - a killer for climate protection. However, folding cartons are recycled an average of 5-7 times and thus bind huge amounts of CO₂ over their long life cycle. It is even possible to recycle folding cartons more than 25 times.

With PackEx away from wasting resources through overproduction

Dispose of folding boxes unused? Not with PackEx! We deliver from run 1 and offer short runs at economical prices. Why? It's simple: we don't want packaging to end up in the trash unused and we promote the responsible use of resources. Because not only does it cost money, it also means unnecessary waste that can't even be recycled if disposed of incorrectly. When you choose PackEx as your packaging manufacturer, you are very flexible in terms of time due to our short delivery times. Through our cloud-based warehouse, which you can find under "My Products" in our PackEx portal, you can reorder your already configured sustainable folding boxes from PackEx with just a few clicks. With our express production, they'll be with you in 3 working days. So there's no reason to order more folding boxes than you need. No waste of resources - with PackEx.