Here are some fun facts about cardboard boxes without whose convenience, practicality and affordability any residential move would be simply unthinkable.
A corrugated cardboard box can have a very interesting and diversified post-primary life. In other words, the cardboard battle may be lost but the corrugated fibreboard war has just begun.
1895 was the year in which the very first corrugated cardboard box was manufactured in the USA. Today, around 90% of all products in the USA are shipped in cardboard containers.
The Regular Slotted Container (RSC) is, without a doubt, the most common cardboard box whose major flaps meet in the center while its minor ones do not.
Nowadays the design of corrugated boxes is widely varied with the purpose of meeting the particular needs of the products for packing and shipping, the environmental hazards and the requirements of retailers and consumers alike.
Needless to say, corrugated fibreboard has a higher resistance to bending than flat fibreboard of equal mass.
Cardboard boxes are completely safe to be disposed of because the raw material is 100% biodegradable and does not contain any harmful substances.
Around 70% of the world’s cardboard is recycled and as a result, most of the cardboard boxes of today are manufactured from re-used materials.
Silk manufacturers have used cardboard boxes to transport the Bombyx mori moth and its eggs from Japan to Europe since 1840.
Thanks to the affordability of the material, a cardboard box can serve as the foundation of a wide range of exciting projects – from insulation linings through one-of-a-kind costumes to children’s toys.
Speaking of toys, it’s not an uncommon sight to see children toss the brand new toy they have been given and play with the cardboard package instead. In fact, the reputation of corrugated cardboard boxes as playthings is so strong that the cardboard box was included in the National Toy Hall of Fame (now part of The Strong – an interactive educational institution in Rochester, NY) as a rare toy that is not affiliated with any specific brand.
London was the site of the so-called Cardboard City; an area close to Waterloo station where more than 200 homeless people used to sleep in cardboard boxes from 1983 until 1998. Later, all of the Cardboard City residents were offered free housing and now the area is the site of the London IMAX cinema.
In 2004, the Australian architect Peter Ryan designed and built up an entire house only with cardboard boxes.
