Many businesses pay twice for packaging.
First, products and stock arrive in cardboard boxes. Those boxes are unpacked, flattened and sent for recycling or disposal.
Then the same business purchases rolls, sheets or bags of protective packaging material to send products back out to customers.
A cardboard shredder can change that equation by converting suitable waste cardboard into reusable packaging material.
For businesses receiving regular deliveries while also shipping products, something currently treated as waste may actually be a useful resource.
What Is a Cardboard Shredder?
A cardboard shredder — sometimes called a cardboard perforator or cardboard recycling machine — is designed to process used corrugated cardboard into material that can be reused for packaging.
Depending on the machine, cardboard can be cut or perforated to create flexible cushioning material.
Instead of immediately placing incoming cardboard into a recycling bin, businesses can give it a second useful purpose.
The Traditional Packaging Cycle
Consider a typical eCommerce business or warehouse.
Products arrive from suppliers packed inside cardboard cartons.
Staff unpack the products and then dispose of the cardboard.
When customer orders need to be shipped, the business purchases protective packaging material to help prevent those products from being damaged during transport.
The business therefore has two separate costs:
disposing of packaging material coming in and purchasing packaging material going out.
A cardboard shredder creates an opportunity to connect those two processes.
Turn Incoming Cardboard Into Outgoing Packaging
With a cardboard shredder, suitable boxes from incoming deliveries can be processed into packaging material.
The workflow becomes:
Receive stock → unpack cardboard boxes → process cardboard → reuse material for packaging → ship customer orders.
Instead of immediately becoming waste, the cardboard gets another useful life inside the business.
For organisations processing significant quantities of incoming and outgoing goods, this can create a readily available source of packaging material.
Reduce the Cost of Packaging Materials
Protective packaging is an ongoing operating expense for many businesses.
Individual rolls or packs may not appear particularly expensive, but the cost accumulates when hundreds or thousands of parcels are being shipped.
Producing packaging material from cardboard already entering the business may reduce the amount of additional protective material that needs to be purchased.
The potential saving depends on shipping volume, the type of products being packed and the amount of suitable cardboard available.
For the right business, however, the raw material is effectively already being delivered to the premises.
Reduce the Volume of Cardboard Waste
Cardboard boxes also consume considerable space.
Even when boxes are flattened, large quantities of cardboard can quickly fill recycling bins and storage areas.
Processing cardboard as it becomes available can reduce bulky cardboard accumulation while simultaneously producing material that can be used by the packing department.
This can be particularly useful for businesses that regularly receive large numbers of cartons.
Who Can Benefit From a Cardboard Shredder?
Cardboard shredders can be useful for businesses that both receive and dispatch physical products.
Examples include:
- eCommerce businesses
- Warehouses
- Retailers
- Distribution centres
- Manufacturers
- Spare parts suppliers
- Electronics businesses
- Automotive parts businesses
- Book and stationery retailers
- Fulfilment operations
The ideal situation is a business with a steady supply of clean corrugated cardboard and an ongoing requirement for protective packaging.
What Can Shredded Cardboard Be Used For?
Processed cardboard can be used in several ways depending on the machine and packaging requirements.
It may provide:
- Protective wrapping around products
- Cushioning inside shipping cartons
- Void filling around packaged items
- Separation between products
- Additional protection for suitable fragile goods
The exact application will depend on the product being shipped and the level of protection required.
For some products, specialised packaging may still be necessary. Cardboard shredding isn’t intended to replace every type of protective packaging.
The objective is to reduce the amount that needs to be purchased where recycled cardboard is suitable for the job.
Cardboard Shredder vs Ordinary Paper Shredder
A cardboard shredder should not be confused with a standard office paper shredder.
Office shredders are primarily designed to destroy documents by cutting paper into strips or particles.
Cardboard packaging machines are specifically designed to process corrugated cardboard and create material suitable for reuse.
The result is intended to be useful packaging material rather than simply destroyed cardboard.
How Quickly Can a Cardboard Shredder Pay for Itself?
The answer depends entirely on the business.
A company shipping only a few parcels each week may have little need for dedicated cardboard processing equipment.
A warehouse dispatching hundreds of packages may have a very different calculation.
To assess whether a cardboard shredder makes financial sense, consider:
- How much cardboard enters the business each month?
- How much protective packaging do you purchase?
- How much do you spend on that packaging?
- How much cardboard recycling or waste capacity do you use?
- How many parcels do you dispatch?
- Could processed cardboard replace some of your existing packaging material?
Once these numbers are known, the potential return on investment becomes much easier to calculate.
An Easy Form of Business Recycling
Recycling is often thought of as the final destination for waste.
But there is an important step that can happen first: reuse.
Instead of sending cardboard immediately into the recycling stream, a business can potentially use that material again before it is ultimately recycled.
This is a simple example of turning a waste-management problem into an operational resource.
Stop Throwing Away Something You Are Buying Again
For businesses receiving cardboard boxes while simultaneously purchasing protective packaging, there is an obvious question worth asking:
Are we throwing away something that we could be using?
A cardboard shredder can turn suitable waste cartons into useful packaging material, potentially reducing packaging purchases, cardboard waste volumes and storage requirements at the same time.
For eCommerce businesses, warehouses, retailers and other organisations processing regular shipments, it can be one of the simplest ways to turn an existing waste product into something the business would.