Cardboard, OCC and the Corrugated Difference
We often use these three words in recycling field and use them interchangeably. But in fact, they are not exactly meaning the same thing. You should know Cardboard, OCC and the corrugated difference. Cardboard which is most commonly used actually refers to the rigid and thick paperboard like packaging boxes. Corrugated material is referring to 2 layers of kraft paper in the exterior and fluted layer in the middle of the 2 flat layers. It is usually the proper name for the cardboard box which is made up of several pieces of paperboard. When the corrugated is used and become a waste, it is called OCC which is ready for recycling. OCC is the abbreviation of old corrugated container.
When you are recycling OCC, please pay attention to Cardboard, OCC and the corrugated difference.
When you are using a baler making bales with OCC, you’d better not take down the boxes. Feeding and baling with its original shape can make it easier to be group together. While if you take down the boxes into flat pieces before feeding them into the baler chamber, the flat boxes will be very likely to slip out of the bale because they have nothing to hold together inside the bale, thus the bale will not be so firm as baling with entire boxes.
If you have wet OCC, you should not recycle immediately. However you should take it out and until it is dry. Because OCC is a kind of material of paper fiber, once the fiber gets wet, it is weaken and become easy to be torn and also not valuable anymore because its value largely depends on the fiber quality.
Quick links:
Cardboard/paper tube recycling
Paper types and paper recycling
8 Steps of cardboard recycling
Which cardboard can be recycled？
What is the importance of cardboard baler and cardboard shredder?