What counts as past reuse
A gaylord is past reuse when it is wet, torn, crushed or missing its bottom. Structure is what a gaylord is for, and once the board has lost it, the box has no value as a box. It still has value as fiber. That is OCC: old corrugated containers, the recycling grade a box becomes when it can no longer be reused.
A box past reuse is meant to go back into the stream.
Reuse or recycle
| What you see | Likely outcome |
|---|---|
| Dry, square, bottom intact | Reuse: Grade A or B |
| Creased, taped, but sound | Reuse: Grade C |
| Soft or damp at the bottom | Recycle as OCC |
| Torn walls or missing bottom | Recycle as OCC |
| Crushed from stacking or a forklift | Recycle as OCC |
| Contaminated with oil, food or chemicals | Ask before moving; may not be accepted as OCC |
How a recycle request runs
- Tell us what you have: footprint, how many, built or flat, wet or dry. Photographs help.
- Split the lot. Sound boxes can come out for reuse. The rest go to OCC.
- Say how many, built or flat, wet or dry, and where the stack sits.
Keep OCC clean
Mills set limits on moisture and non-paper contaminants in OCC. Keep plastic liners, strapping, wood pallets and food or oil residue out of the stack. A poly liner left inside a box is a contaminant. Pull it first. For the bale side of the trade, see OCC and baled cardboard, explained.
Facts and figures
- US corrugated boxes had a recycling rate of 96.5 percent in 2018. (epa.gov, retrieved 2026-11-10.)
Terms
- OCC: Old corrugated containers, the recycling grade a box becomes when it can't be reused.
- single trip: Used once, the common description for top-grade used gaylords.
- knocked down (KD): Folded flat for shipping or return.
Before you call a recycler
- Flatten boxes or knock them down, remove strapping, liners and tape where you can.
- Keep them dry: wet board weighs more and is worth less.
- Count them, or weigh a bale, and note where they sit and how a truck reaches them.
- Ask whether the boxes are still sound: a Grade A or B box may be worth selling for reuse before it becomes OCC.
Why recycling is still worth doing
Corrugated is among the most recycled materials in the country, and a box that cannot be reused still carries fibre that a mill can pulp. Selling a sound box for reuse comes first; baling the rest keeps the stack from becoming a fire and storage nuisance.
Sorting by condition first
Sort sound, dry boxes from damaged ones before anyone quotes a price, because the first group may sell as used boxes and the second goes to a recycler as old corrugated.
What the national recycling figures say
The US EPA reports that corrugated boxes were the largest single product category in municipal solid waste in 2018, at 33.3 million tons generated, 11.4 percent of the total. About 32.1 million tons were recycled, a 96.5 percent rate, with 230,000 tons combusted after recycling and 940,000 tons landfilled (US EPA, containers and packaging data, retrieved 12 November 2026). Those are 2018 national numbers: they show how deep the market for old corrugated is, not what any buyer pays.
When a box is worth selling for reuse instead
A box graded A or B has value as a box. A wet, torn or crushed one is recycle only. If your pile is mixed, sort it first: the grade definitions on the catalogue say Grade A is used once, clean and dry, and Grade D is worth its fiber, and the line between them is what the first photo of the stamp and the bottom shows.
Weights worth knowing, worked out here
A flat 48 x 40 x 36 in triple-wall box weighs about 27 lb (Packaging Price 48 x 40 x 36 listing, retrieved 12 November 2026), so 1,000 of them come to about 27,000 lb, which is 13.5 short tons. The landfilled share in the EPA figures above works out to about 2.8 percent of the corrugated generated, which is why a box that can be recycled should not be thrown away.
What recyclers and mills judge
Ask the buyer for its moisture and outthrow limits in writing. What a seller controls is simpler: keep the stack dry, remove strapping and liners, and keep plastic, food waste and other materials out of the pile.