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OKOften we have been asked why our furniture is not made entirely from recycled material. Therefore, we would like to give you an insight into the composition of our corrugated cardboard and exactly what the recycled content is.
Our cardboard furniture is sustainable in every respect. The sustainability results on the one hand from the material used - corrugated cardboard - and on the other hand from its circular character, because the furniture can be fully recycled and returned to the raw material cycle.
For the production of our products we use special heavy-duty cardboard, which is composed of a recycled portion and a fresh fiber portion. The recycled content of the corrugated board varies from product to product, depending on the properties required. This is due to the fact that different types of corrugated board are used, each containing different proportions of fresh and recycled fibers. The whole thing becomes a little clearer if you take a closer look at the structure of our corrugated board.
Basically, our corrugated cardboard is composed of smooth and corrugated paper webs. The majority of our products are made from double wall corrugated cardboard, which consists of two fluted paper webs with a smooth paper web between them. These three inner webs of corrugated cardboard are usually made entirely of recycled paper fibers. Smooth paper webs - so-called kraft liners - are in turn glued to the outer sides, giving the board its stability and resistance. To ensure the necessary strength of these kraftliners, they can only have a proportion of 20% recycled fibers mixed in. This is because recycled fibers are very short due to the preparation process, but long virgin fibers are needed for high strength.
The type of corrugated cardboard used varies between the individual products and differs mainly in the different paper thicknesses of the inner and/or outer webs. Depending on the exact composition of the corrugated board, this results in a recycled content of between 54% and 80%.
Also for the virgin fibers, sustainability has top priority for us. We use only FSC-certified corrugated cardboard for the manufacture of our products. This means that the virgin paper fibers come from sustainably managed European forests where important environmental and social standards are observed. The FSC criteria regulate the use of pesticides, for example, and ensure that forests are managed sustainably and with care. When harvesting timber, for example, only individual trunks in a group of trees may be felled. Clear-cutting is therefore not FSC-compliant. Branches and tree tops must remain in the forest to supply it with nutrients. In larger forest areas (1,000ha or more), 10% must remain unmanaged as natural forest. In addition, only a maximum of 20% non-native tree species may be planted in FSC forests in order to maintain a natural, resilient forest. For the foresters, FSC certification not only means increased occupational health and safety, but also pay in line with collective agreements.
Although our corrugated cardboard is FSC-certified, you will not find the FSC seal in our store or on our products yet. The reason for this is that our corrugated cardboard plant, where the corrugated cardboard is finally processed, is not yet FSC-certified. However, the seal may only be used if every player within the production chain has the appropriate certification. We are already working on this certification to make our sustainability even more transparent and traceable.
Do you have any questions? Do not hesitate to contact us by e-mail or phone.
You can find our contact details in the imprint.
