43+ Cardboard Facts To Polish Your Art & Craft Skills

Different types of arts are expressed using our imagination or skill in creating beautiful objects and experiences that can be shared with others.

Traditional art categories are literature, graphic arts, and visual arts. Design, drawing, and painting are forms of art expressed on flat surfaces.

Cardboard art is an art form that denotes works of artistry made from various types of cardboard. Cardboard has its value in the arts and crafts scene, and the graph of cardboard usage in art slowly ascends as it is environment-friendly and economical.

If cardboard has aroused your interest, why not read on to find more facts?

How is cardboard made?

Cardboard is the generic name for a heavy type of paper-based product that is thick and durable. Other attributes of cardboard are rigidity, foldability, and capacity to resist impacts.

• About 80 billion corrugated cardboard boxes are used in the U.S. every year and approximately 80% of products sold in America are wrapped or packaged in cardboard.
• Cardboard is widely used in modern life, ranging from packaging to art.
• Besides commercial uses in shipping, gardening, and many other uses, it can be manipulated in arts and crafts and even designs.
• Cardboard is manufactured in factories using many raw materials from natural resources.
• Fast-growing pine trees are primarily used to make corrugated cardboard.
• Barks of trees are stripped and shredded into very small chips, which involves a mechanical process.
• Then the chips are cooked in high-pressure tanks in a mixture of different compounds, including sodium hydroxide.
• After shaping the chips into a soft fiber, moisture is removed using heated rollers and the finished product is rolled for shipment to the corrugating plant.
• The paper undergoes different steps in the corrugating plant, and corrugated cardboard is produced.
• Cardboard is made of recycled paper sandwiched between two sheets.
• Cardboard was invented in China during the 15th century and is used for different purposes.

Recycling Cardboard

People have become highly conscious about the protection of the environment, detrimental effects of food production, and waste management globally.

• Today, institutions and businesses recycle trash such as cardboard, aluminum cans, iron and steel scrap, glass bottles, wood plastics, and paper as it saves the cost of waste disposal.
• Recycling is vital for the local community and, of course, for the planet as it is essential to conserve our resources and reduce pollution.
• Recycled cardboard is utilized to make non-toxic cardboard boxes, tissue paper, towels, cereal boxes, and thick paper for writing or printing.
• Cardboard is an eco-friendly material, and recycling cardboard can be done by numerous techniques and machines, which makes materials made of cardboard a preferred choice to produce recyclable material.
• A huge number of recyclable cardboard boxes are being wasted every day.
• It is found that recycling cardboard is equal to saving almost 24% of the energy required to make new cardboard.
• Moreover, recycling cardboard gives out 50% less sulfur dioxide than making new cardboard from raw materials. Let's work towards more recycled cardboard to conserve energy.
• If we recycle a ton of cardboard, we would be easily conserving 46 gal (209.12 l) of oil.
• We could save a lot of space and a lot of money with recycled cardboard.

Uses Of Cardboard

Cardboard boxes are various forms of containers deployed for the shipment, packaging, and storage of different products commercially.

• Cardboard is the main component for protecting goods during shipment.
• Packaging engineers are employed to study various environmental conditions and design packaging material to lower the effects of stress conditions that are anticipated when the goods are stored or shipped.
• There are plenty of uses for corrugated cardboard, like storage, art, school supplies, furniture, and gardening.
• Cardboard boxes are the most used packaging and helpful boxes in every sector, and have been around for over 200 years.
• Cardboard boxes can be shaped in any way we want.
• Cardboard boxes have an advantageous position in the food market.
• Many food items are now packed and delivered in boxes that can be recycled and are biodegradable, like pizza boxes and cereal boxes, instead of paper bags.
• Cosmetic businesses, including skincare products and makeup items, which is the most used consumer product, use their elegant and folded-up cardboard boxes to attract clients.
• Another sector that uses cardboard boxes is the electronic industry, where electronic devices are kept safe in cardboard packaging with high-quality brand picture maximization.

Fun Facts About Cardboard

The first commercial cardboard was produced by Sir Malcolm Thornhill in 1817 in England.

• An American printer, Robert Gair, invented cardboard when someone accidentally cut through a stack of paper bags while working in his factory.
• The material was first made in France in 1751 to reinforce playing cards.
• Cardboard has been used since 1848 when it was mentioned in the novel 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' written by Anne Bronte.
• It was the Kellogg brothers who first used paper board cartons to hold their corn cereal which led to the origin of the cereal boxes.
• Now the cardboard industry has become so strong that its worth is around $4 billion and has approximately 27,000 employees in the United Kingdom alone.
• In the solid waste generated globally, paper and cardboard trash account for around 41% of landfill areas.
• The United Kingdom alone manufactures around 5 billion boxes of corrugated cardboard, and the figure is estimated to rise over the years.
• According to statistics, in 2018, the production of cardboard and paper globally was almost 463 million t (420 million mt)
• Children use cardboard boxes as a toy or other imaginary items, including dress-ups. Cardboard and other paper-based products like corrugated fiberboard and paper board can be used for different projects like children's toys, insulated lining, and science experiments.
• Some pets, especially cats, and some children enjoy playing inside cardboard boxes.
• The cardboard box's reputation as a toy is so prevalent that a cardboard box was included in the National Toy Hall of Fame in America.
• Reinforced cardboard is barely more than a few inches and effectively takes up less space than plastic bins and other containers.
• When we compare the energy levels of construction materials commonly, cardboard used for construction purposes is more energy-efficient than bricks, lime, and wood.
• Another fact is that cardboard is a good electrical insulator as long as it is kept dry.
• 75% of the cardboard produced every year in the United States is recycled to make other essential goods.
• The U.S. alone produces 100 billion cardboard boxes a year.
• Recently, media has highlighted a potential health threat to the public regarding harmful mineral oil contained in recycled packaging with cardboard materials.
• Studies are being conducted about these chemicals which can cause organ damage and cancer, but the data are insufficient because all the factual data comes from studies on rats.