Tree Farming & Cardboard: How Reforestation Makes Paper Greener Than Ever

Take a moment and picture a farm. You probably see something like a red barn, a few chickens or maybe a couple cows. And in the distance something like wheat or corn in flat fields that stretch to the horizon…

You probably don’t picture this:

Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.

That’s exactly what you’ll see when you head out to farm country in certain areas.

The reason we’re excited about tree farms at Ernest Packaging is how sustainable they are. And you know how much we love sustainable things. Instead of clear cutting all of their land and moving on, tree farmers will cut down one section of trees and replant it. The next year they’ll cut down another section and replant it. By the time they cycle back around to the first section, it’s a complete forest full of brand new trees.

The idea actually isn’t that new. In fact, the American Tree Farm System has been around more than 70 years. Today, it’s a network of 82,000 family farm owners that sustainably manage 24 million acres of forestland. It takes years for a section of the farm to come to harvestable maturity, and during that time it provides a home for wildlife, a place for recreation, erosion prevention, water retention, and more. Hence the sections on their signs.

Because diamonds, like a tree farm, are forever.

(Source)

If you’re up on the cardboard industry, then you may be wondering what this has to do with Ernest. After all, cardboard is mostly made out of recycled OCC (old corrugated containers), so it’s pretty sustainable already.

But sustainably grown and harvested wood is used for other Ernest products, like—

• Wood shipping crates – Wood is still the best for protecting large items, and sustainable lumber makes these extra green.
• Virgin paper sourcing – Cardboard and other paper products do have a small amount of virgin paper in them. That virgin paper is made out of the byproducts (wood chips & sawdust) from making the lumber.

Sustainable tree farming means all of our virgin wood products are green and sustainable. And when the packaging is done, it can be recycled. It’s not just green. It’s super green.

Want to see just how green your packaging can be? Contact us today to get packaging that’s effective and sustainable at the same time!