
Editor’s note: The following article is an edited transcript of the presentation James Armstrong of Armstrong Investment Research gave at the 2017 Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference in mid-October.
Year-to-date demand for containerboard—whether you look at it on an average-days-of-supply or actual basis—is up somewhere between 2.8 percent and 3.5 percent. That is double what even the most optimistic people thought containerboard demand would be even as early as last year. Two things are happening.
First, outsourcing is declining.
Now, add e-commerce to that. According to current estimates, e-commerce accounts for about 1 percent of containerboard demand growth. E-commerce is only 8.5 percent of the overall retail market, but it is growing at a rate of 18 percent to 20 percent per year, and it is likely to accelerate. That could mean that you see strong e-commerce growth for years to come.
E-commerce and containerboard demand
In addition, e-commerce is affecting the retail space. From 2000 to 2010, everybody had an e-commerce strategy, but most sales were still brick and mortar retail. Malls grew; retail was big. Now you can’t pick up a newspaper without hearing about mall closures or this or that store going out of business. More sales will go online in the future.
Overall containerboard demand could grow by 3 percent to 4 percent until 2030. If that happens, North American containerboard demand would need to grow by 60 percent in the next 13 years.
What happens if e-commerce grows to 30 percent of retail by 2030? It could completely change how we buy stuff in the U.S. and eventually the globe. Bottom line: We’ve reached a tipping point.
If that happens, e-commerce could add from 1 percent to 2 percent to containerboard demand per year, and that is above underlying demand growth. That means overall containerboard demand could grow by 3 percent to 4 percent until 2030. If that happens, North American containerboard demand would need to grow by 60 percent in the next 13 years. The containerboard industry has not grown in almost two decades and suddenly would need to almost double capacity.
Containerboard supply sources
Where in the world is all the supply going to come from?
U.S. containerboard producers are producing above 95 percent already. You are talking about 97 percent some months. That is absolutely unsustainable. You need more downtime. You can’t get much more out of the current system.
There is also the opportunity for conversions, and containerboard conversions are going to happen: International Paper (IP) has one out on the market, Domtar has been threatening one, and Packaging Corp. also is doing conversions. These are going to come online, but that still is not a huge amount of capacity.
Could there be new virgin capacity? Well, a new virgin mill has not been built since 1994 anywhere in the globe. To get a virgin mill built in the U.S., it would take seven to 10 years to get the permits through.

The other potential source of supply is recycled capacity. We will need recycled capacity, and recycled capacity will be added. However, the global old corrugated container (OCC) supply chain is maxed out. We have to mix in mixed paper and other lower-quality materials to make the containerboard we’re already using.
You are out of OCC
More and more boxes
Now, one of the things that people worry about is will e-commerce cannibalize current demand. If I’ve got 125 shirts in a 5-foot-by-5-foot box that is shipped to a retailer, that one box uses 150 square feet of board. Let’s assume that all 125 units go into individual 1-foot-by-1-foot boxes. The boxes still hold 125 units, but it takes 750 square feet of
There also are other reasons there will be little cannibalization. First, most people don’t direct ship yet. I know I don’t quite get all of my products from China, even though everything has “Made in China” stickers on it. Products come in a big box to an Amazon distribution center, and they get unpacked and repacked in small boxes. Well, that is just added boxes to the supply chain—adding more demand.
In addition, individual boxes are not packed efficiently. How many people have ordered a package of pencils from Amazon, for example, and it comes in a large box. That could add a huge amount of square footage to containerboard demand and huge amounts of OCC demand.
Another thing that everybody talks about:
Let’s assume that basis weights are going down 0.3 percent per year, as data from Boston-based global forest products industry information provider RISI illustrates. Demand will massively overwhelm any basis weight declines, so you are still going to need the extra fiber.
Adapting to e-commerce
The world needs to adapt to this different environment. More virgin capacity will be needed; we know that. Unlike aluminum and some other materials, you can only recycle a box so many times—you lose fiber even if you get a perfect collection rate; it’s just how the physics works.
The mills must be more flexible. That means they need to take
E-commerce is only 8.5 percent of the overall retail market, but it is growing at a rate of 18 percent to 20 percent per year, and it is likely to accelerate.
In addition,
Containerboard producers are demanding higher quality. You’ve heard about China and its 0.3 percent level for “carried waste,” which is probably a little hard to get to, but every containerboard producer is complaining about the quality of recovered fiber they are getting. You must improve collection methods. You must figure out how to sort
E-commerce is going to drive a lot of change. More containerboard capacity will be needed; that means more recycled materials. The mix of containerboard production must be rebalanced. All capacity brought online globally, or most of it since 1994, has been recycled based. That is nearing the end and needs to balance out.
Where and how OCC will be collected needs to change as well. If retailers at one time were generating 90 percent to 95 percent of the OCC collected per year, and retailers are going out of business, how does that change your model? You need to figure out what to do about it.
Get curated news on YOUR industry.
Enter your email to receive our newsletters.

Explore the December 2017 Paper Recycling Supplement Issue
Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.
Latest from Recycling Today
- Buy Scrap Software to showcase its software at Scrap Expo in September
- LG details recycling activities
- Algoma EAF is up and running
- Toyota-Tsusho completes acquisition of Radius Recycling
- CATL, Ellen MacArthur Foundation aim to accelerate circular battery economy
- Commentary: Expanded polystyrene is 98 percent air, 2 percent plastic and 100 percent misunderstood
- AMCS appoints general manager for North America
- How tariffs, regulations affect LIBs recycling in US, EU