Cardboard as Packaging Material
Cardboard is leightweight, sturdy, cheap - and perfect for all packaging needs!
Great packaging with cardboard boxes
Paper is much older than you may think: If you remember the medieval parchment, that was made out of animal skin, this is by far not our oldest material to write on. The ancient egypts made papyrus out of a plant of the same name; and in China, a kind of paper was discovered that dated back to 200 BC - made out of bamboo fibres. Papyrus, however, is a lot more commonly known; and that's why we adopted that name for our modern paper.
Paper - and ultimately cardboard - is made from plant fibres: Mostly pulp, and a glue that binds the fibres together. By sieving off the liquid mass, pressing and drying, one of our most important cultural goods and consumables is then created. Good for the environment: waste paper can be excellently recycled into new paper and then only needs to be bleached for use as writing, copying or printer paper. When processed into cardboard or paperboard, bleaching is unnecessary.
Cardboard and paperboard are nothing more than processed paper. However, these materials are much thicker because the liquid raw mass is sieved and pressed in several passes before final drying. The thickness of paper and cardboard is measured by its weight: Commercially available typewriter paper usually weighs 80g/m², above 200 g/m² it is called paperboard, and above 600 g/m² cardboard. At least this is the usual nomenclature in Germany: In domestic trade, the term "cardboard" does not exist, as internationally it does not refer to a material but to a finished package. In Germany, the term "carton" is therefore ambiguous: it can mean both the material itself, which is usually supplied in rolls, and the prefabricated outer packaging for shipping goods. To avoid misunderstandings, the EU therefore recommends avoiding the term carton. However, it is impossible to imagine German usage without "carton".
Cardboard as a raw material for further processing is available in all conceivable thicknesses and qualities. Due to the very high proportion of recycled material, cardboard is usually grey or brown, but in industry - for example, when shipping goods - this does not matter. Delivery from the manufacturer usually takes place as a roll; in the case of particularly thick variants (i.e. rather "cardboard") also as a sheet. Thick cardboard would bend or warp when rolled and could not be laid flat again.
Cardboard is irreplaceable in the packaging industry. It is used to wrap goods; to cushion packaging, or to fill cavities in products to prevent damage. However, thin to medium thick cardboard is also processed into a much stronger material: Corrugated board! In its simplest version, corrugated board consists of 3 layers of cardboard: a middle layer corrugated by a corrugating roll, the so-called flute, and 2 cover layers which are glued to the flute. The result is a stiff, crease- and impact-resistant board that is ideal for the production of packaging cartons and shipping boxes.
However, cardboard is also popular for handicrafts; there, of course, it is usually bleached or even dyed. Carton is easy to process, it can be cut with scissors or a cutter - and glued with all common adhesives. Bends and folds can be set precisely and thus brought into almost any shape. This is not only fun for pupils in handicraft lessons: Without cardboard, for example, it would be impossible to produce initial models in architecture - even if these are later elaborated in more detail from wood or with modern 3D printing technology.
Thin boards (or extra strong papers) around 160-200 g/m² can still be used in most printers to print greeting cards or create representative Presentations. But commercial postcards or greeting cards are also printed on cardboard, which is, however, much stronger at > 300 g/m².
As a company in the packaging industry, cardboard is our daily bread. Whether rolled goods, cushioning sections, sheets or shipping cartons:
90% of our supply consists of cardboard - or its stronger brother, corrugated cardboard.. The core range includes all kinds of shipping boxes that are suitable for sending goods by parcel service, as DHL parcels or stacking boxes for pallets. The dimensions range from the handy maxi letter box, which still fits into a DIN letterbox, to the huge pallet box, which with an edge length of 1200 x 800 x 1000 mm almost reaches the dimensions of a piano.
Cartons are the backbone of the online mail order business: regardless of whether goods are sold on Amazon, Ebay or in your own online shop, they have to reach the customer somehow. And they have to be intact and undamaged! The packaging of the goods must be quick and uncomplicated (it is particularly convenient with automatic boxes) and must still be within financial limits. A cardboard box fulfils these requirements perfectly: when purchased on pallets, popular cardboard boxes in the 30cm size cost from 30 cents; the flat packaging delivered is assembled in a flash and can be sealed quickly and securely with packing tape or strapping. Suitable cushioning materials include shrink paper, packaging chips or bubble wrap - as a shipper, you have a free choice here.
So the carton is a real jack-of-all-trades!