LW-98-132 EFFECTIVELY RECOVERING WAXED BOXES

Description:

The waxed box industry is being threatened by the corrugated plastic crate. Used primarily by the meat and vegetable market as a cost-effective packaging solution, the waxed box is suffering heavy criticism because of the perceived inability to recover the fiber once it has been treated. Plastic crates, while themselves not recyclable, are purported to be reusable and therefore more cost effective. There is a concern on the part of vegetable growers and meat packers, however, that plastic crates carry with them some level of contamination. So if the crates are reused, then they must first be disinfected. The disinfection problem adds cost to the package, in effect making it unattractive as compared to using waxed corrugated cartons. Therefore, if the recyclability of waxed boxes can be enabled by a new process, the economic and performance advantages that are offered as compared to plastic crates becomes convincing. In fact, a process is now in the pilot stages wherein the waxed box can be recycled. Both the fiber and the wax can be recovered for reuse in the manufacture of new waxed boxes.