Case Study #1

Situation:

The #1 most sustainable food manufacturer in the world, known best for spices and seasonings, sought to validate their own reuse and recycling efforts after a conference watching our Founder and CEO speak about box reuse. The company’s production facilities unpack tens of thousands of high-quality corrugated boxes daily (from incoming raw materials), which were presumably creating financial and environmental value, but with no tangible ways to validate. The used boxes were being sold to a local recycler for what seemed like decent value (checks were coming) but lacked itemized tracking to know what they actually got or were paying for. They wanted to get extra eyes on the program, share best practices, and validate their efforts. 

Task:

Validate their reuse efforts, offer advice, best practices, and any potential concerns.  

Action:

UsedCardboardBoxes (UCB) diverted and audited multiple truckloads of boxes which were diverted from the incumbent, and performed the following: 

• Sort through the boxes 

• Grade good boxes vs bad boxes (unable to be reused) 

• Count each specific boxes received separately 

• Track and report against what was received 

• Compare against incumbents numbers 

Results:

The audit exposed that the incumbent was improperly paying for all of the boxes they were receiving, claiming a substantial % of them were “bad” when in reality, they were not. The incumbent was removed and UCB was added and payments immediately increased as the proper amount of boxes started getting paid for. 

Furthermore, through the success of this reuse program, additional opportunities were explored and worked on together including but not limited to gaylord reuse, closed loop programs, recycling of other commodities, landfill diversion and reduction efforts, on-site staffing services, and full-scale waste vendor management for the company. The collaboration for going on over 14 years now has delivered significant sustainability and financial benefits: 

• 8,427,636 boxes reused:Over 8.4 million used boxes have been successfully diverted into the reuse stream instead of being wasted or downcycled. This massive reuse effort substantially reduced the client’s environmental footprint. 

• $28.8 million in new revenue: UCB has paid the client approximately $28,787,457 for those used boxes, turning what was once a low-value waste stream into a lucrative revenue source. 

• $5 million in cost reductions: UCB has diverted waste out of the landfill, reducing hauling and tipping fees from that material. 

• Waste diversion and reuse: Thanks to the closed-loop system, high-quality boxes circulate back to suppliers for reuse, meaning far fewer boxes end up in traditional recycling or landfill. The company significantly increased its waste diversion rate and advanced its sustainability goals by keeping resources in use longer. 

• Real-time tracking & transparency: UCB’s software and on-site management provide real-time data on waste reduction and recycling rates. The client can now monitor its packaging reuse performance with transparency, enabling better sustainability reporting and informed decision-making for waste management going forward. 

• Fair-Value Recovery & Tracking: UCB began purchasing the client’s used corrugated boxes by the truckload at the highest market value. All transactions were recorded in real time using UCB’s software, giving the client immediate visibility into volumes and earnings from box reuse. 

• Closed-Loop Reuse System: UCB established a closed-loop system in which each used box is inspected, sorted, and palletized, then returned to the client’s original packaging suppliers for reuse in new shipments. Any boxes not sent back to suppliers are repurposed through UCB’s marketplace (for example, as low-cost shipping boxes for other companies or as components of UCB’s moving kits), ensuring every box finds a second life. 

• On-Site Management: To overcome labor and sorting constraints, UCB placed over 20 of its own associates at the client’s facility to manage the collection and sorting of used boxes. This on-site team worked within the client’s recycling center to capture reusable boxes efficiently before they could be discarded. 

• Streamlined Logistics: UCB deployed a fleet of seven dedicated trailers on a continuous shuttle loop between the client’s facility and UCB processing centers. This around-the-clock logistics support ensured a steady flow of collected boxes to UCB without interrupting the client’s operations.