For decades, the sustainable economy has promoted the use of natural resources to create ecological products that help slow down climate change. These include cardboard and paper, a very important part of human development, which allows the personalized promotional gift sector to offer a wide variety of products that can build brand and customer loyalty at very affordable prices.

History and origin of cardboard

Cardboard is the material obtained by superimposing layers of paper derived from cellulose fibers extracted directly from wood or from recycled paper.

The cardboard box was invented in the 16th century in China, but its use as we know it began in the 1890s.

The use of boxes for storing different consumer products increased greatly at the time when anonymous bulk sales gave way to the marketing of personalized packaged products with the companies' trademarks on the packaging itself.

The wide variety of fields in which cardboard is useful favoured its industrial development, which achieved a material so resistant that it has managed to replace wooden and plastic boxes with the advantages that this brought for the economy and the environment.

Due to its characteristics, it is a flexible material that can be moulded effortlessly and that takes up little space, is lightweight, much cheaper than wood and the great benefit for the environment is that it is a sustainable, recyclable and biodegradable material.

In the corporate gifts sector, FIRSTGREEN dedicates a collection to recycled cardboard used in:

The field of writing and training such as notebooks , folders, document holders …

Adapted as a support material for new trends and applications , such as its use in speakers or pens made of recycled paper, cardboard and wheat straw, special for personalized company gifts at fairs and events, magnets, playing cards...

And we couldn't forget the covers and boxes that, through marketing packaging, allow you to expand the field of objects that can be personalized with your company's logo or message to reach clients or event guests, such as the garden kit with seeds or the special ecological pen covers as a gift.

Differences between recycled and sustainable paper

A sustainable product is one that is produced in harmony with the environment, optimising energy and clean processes, and respecting the rights of the people involved in its production.

The provenance of recycled cardboard and paper from such a sustainable material makes the most of the environmental benefits it can provide, both in virgin and recycled material.

This recycling process is not unlimited because virgin fibers must be added during the process to replace lost or damaged fibers.

Paper and cardboard are sustainable materials due to their

Natural and renewable product , as it comes from fast-growing wood species cultivated and maintained for this purpose.

Low environmental impact, compared to other materials it uses 60% less CO2 and oil emissions (savings per tonne of 140 l of oil, 50,000 litres of water and 900 kg of CO2 compared to the manufacture of new cardboard).

Biodegradable in one year maximum.

100% recyclable , by recycling pre-consumer and post-consumer paper, it is possible to optimize the use of this natural resource in new products, or as fuel, closing the sustainable paper cycle.

Ideal space for company marketing, whether with logos, design or messages printed on the packaging to attract the public and generate a relationship of loyalty with them.

Cardboard as a sustainable and ecological material, increasingly relevant

The resistance that has been achieved with recycled cardboard allows its use in fields that were previously unthinkable, allowing ecology to be something more than packaging boxes, such as furniture, architectural constructions (quick and cheap to build in case of catastrophes), crafts (cardboard bicycle) or artistic, all of which are very ecological.

Nowadays, the ecological movement is gaining more and more weight. It is the so-called ecological packaging, which is characterized by using ecological, recyclable and recycled materials in the containers and packaging that surround the products.

It is very common for companies to use packaging as a means to personalize their brand, and given the great versatility of recycled cardboard, very sustainable and ecological, FIRSTGREEN has dedicated a collection to it in which you can personalize your brand.

   “We cannot change the consumption-based economy, but we can change the resources we use and the way we make our products.”