Nabisco goes green!

While browsing the snack section of a local supermarket I discovered that I am not the only person who wants to save the environment, one cookiebox at a time. The National Biscuit Company does!

Nabisco, but how?

This Oreo Cakesters box is made from 100% recycled paperboard, and is also 12% smaller than its previous box. Don't worry kids, "The 12 Soft, Moist, Delicious Cakes Are Exactly The Same!"

Okay Nabisco, great, but does this really make a difference?

Yes! The 100% Recycled Paperboard website explains what paperboard is, how is it used, converted, broken down, how many trees and landfills we save by using it, and who uses it. If you don't feel like taking a look at the site, I'll highlight the facts...

First, there are 2 different types of paperboard; coated recycled paperboard (CRB) and uncoated recycled paperboard (URB). Our Cakesters box is an example of CRB. URB would be more like your $180.00 biology book.

-"North America recycles approximately 3.1 million tons of recovered fiber into CRB every year, with an additional 4.5 million tons of recovered fiber recycled into URB."

-"For every ton of virgin paperboard that is converted to CRB/URB, one ton of recovered fiber is kept out of municipal landfills. This, in turn, reduces the amount of methane created in the landfill and further decreases greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. "

-"14 Fourteen trees are saved for every converted ton."

-"By converting 250 tons of virgin paperboard to CRB, enough energy is saved to heat someone’s home for an entire year."

-"By converting 250 tons of virgin paperboard to 250 tons of CRB, the greenhouse gases that are prevented are equal to removing 54 cars from the road each year. "

-"By converting 250 tons of virgin paperboard to 250 tons of CRB, the waste water that is not produced each year is the equivalent to the amount of water in 7 seven Olympic-sized swimming pools."

-"By converting 250 tons of virgin paperboard to 250 tons of CRB, four hundred thousand pounds less solid waste is produced - enough to fill 15 garbage trucks each year."

Now I could copy and paste all night, but I feel that this is good enough evidence that a trend of eco-friendly packaging is emerging. I was surprised to discover how many companies are already using this type of packaging. Frito, General Mills, Giant Eagle, Gillette, Hewlett-Packard, Kelloggs, Kraft, Nordstrom, Rubbermaid, Russell Stover, and Xerox were just a few that I recognized on the, what seems like, endless list of companies that use recycled paperboard. Here's the list, do any companies look familiar to you?