Old Corrugated Container Market Size, Segments and Regional Data (NA/EU/APAC/LA/MEA) 2025-2035

According to researchers from Towards Packaging, the global old corrugated container market, estimated at USD 49.52 billion in 2025, is forecast to expand to USD 76.16 billion by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 4.9% over the forecast period.

Ottawa, Nov. 25, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global old corrugated container market was assessed at USD 49.52 billion in 2025, with projections indicating an increase to USD 76.16 billion by 2034, based on insights from Towards Packaging, a sister firm of Precedence Research. The market is significant for its importance in sustainability by offering a crucial raw material for recycled paper products and even reducing reliance on virgin wood pulp.

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What is Meant by Old Corrugated Container?

Old corrugated container (OCC) generally refers to used, unbleached, and even unwaxed cardboard boxes with a ruffled inner layer, mostly collected for recycling and repulping. This material is the main component for new paper products such as boxes, kraft paper, and a few other packaging solutions. Further, it is distinct from regular cardboard, which is considered a heavier paper stock; thus, both are recyclable.

Its significance is driven by the expansion of e-commerce, which increases the need for packaging, and even by cost-effectiveness compared to virgin materials. The market's importance is also shaped by government policies favoring recycling and even technological advancements that enhance processing efficiency.

Key Government Initiatives for the Old Corrugated Container Industry:

Recycled Content Mandates: These regulations require a minimum percentage of recycled fiber in new paper and cardboard products to directly increase demand for OCC as a raw material.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Schemes: EPR policies shift the financial and operational responsibility for managing end-of-life packaging from municipalities to the producers, which drives investment in better collection and recycling systems.
National Recycling Strategies: Governments develop comprehensive national strategies and action plans to address systemic challenges in recycling infrastructure, improve material purity, and create stable domestic markets for recycled materials.
Circular Economy Frameworks: Broader governmental frameworks encourage circularity by promoting the 4Rs (refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle) and sustainable product design, creating a favorable regulatory environment for the OCC industry.
Domestic Manufacturing Incentives: Initiatives like India's 'Make in India' program aim to boost local production and strengthen domestic supply chains for paper and packaging, supporting the entire local industry, including OCC.

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What are the Latest Trends in the Old Corrugated Container Market?

Increased Adoption of Advanced Recycling Technologies and Automation

Advanced technologies, including enhanced sorting, improved pulping, and automation, enhance recovery rates and even improve fiber quality. Thus, automation in manufacturing reduces expenses and increases manufacturing speed to meet demand. Advanced recycling technologies manufacture higher-quality recycled fiber, making it a more viable raw material for the latest packaging. Automated sorting and even pulping processes can raise the speed and effectiveness of recycling operations, propelling recovery rates and lowering costs.

Price Volatility and Stabilization

After a significant price plunge in late 2024, OCC prices stabilized in early 2025 as mills restocked in anticipation of winter supply issues. While prices have been "all over the place," some observers expect a return to a more "normal" price curve in 2025, with steady demand from international markets like Southeast Asia and India helping to stabilize values.

What Potentiates the Growth of the Old Corrugated Container Industry?

Increasing Demand for Sustainable Packaging Solutions

This is driven by consumer demand along with regulatory pressure for eco-friendly alternatives, the recyclability and biodegradability of corrugated cardboard, and its cost-effectiveness compared to a few materials. Meanwhile, corrugated containers are made from recycled paper and are also 100% recyclable as well as biodegradable, making them a preferred option over non-renewable materials such as plastic. This works with the principles of a circular economy, thus, where materials are reused to decrease waste.

More Insights of Towards Packaging:

Regional Analysis

Who is the Leader in the Old Corrugated Container Market?

Asia Pacific contributes to the market because of its vast manufacturing base, growing e-commerce sector, and even rapid industrialization, all of which generate a high requirement for packaging. An expanding middle class with raised disposable income leads to a major consumption of packaged goods, from food and beverages to few personal care and electronics. Urban growth, as well as the development of modern logistics networks, warehousing, along transportation systems, support industrial expansion and facilitate the movement of goods that need packaging.

China Old Corrugated Container Market Trends

China's market is impacted by strong domestic need for recycled pulp, along with aggressive investment in its own forestry and even virgin fiber, and fluctuating global need for paper packaging. While the market is featured by high expansion potential driven by e-commerce and also government recycling initiatives, recent years have seen price volatility together with a significant slowdown in recycled pulp imports, making an unstable environment for both buyers and suppliers.

India Market Trends

India's market is undergoing significant growth potential, propelled by the booming e-commerce, food and beverage, and personal care sectors. Key trends involve a shift towards eco-friendly packaging, contributing to increased need for recycled materials, and a rising focus on domestic production funded by government pressure to limit imports, even though imports remain necessary to supplement local needs.

How is the Opportunistic Rise of North America in the Old Corrugated Container Industry?

North America has seen numerous new or converted recycled containerboard mills come online, including facilities by Cascades, Domtar, along Pratt Industries, which have added remarkable domestic OCC consumption capacity. Moreover, these mills are actively seeking raw material, contributing to the high need and competition for available tons. Thus, increasingly stringent government regulations on plastic waste in the U.S. and Canada, combined with growing consumer environmental knowledge, have prompted brands to accept eco-friendly, recyclable, and biodegradable packaging alternatives, such as OCC-based materials.

U.S. Old Corrugated Container Market Trends

U.S. market trends for old corrugated containers show a strong need driven by e-commerce, resulting in rising mill consumption as well as recent price volatility. The market is featured by a high recycling rate, a rising focus on sustainable packaging, along the increasing adoption of long-term contracts by buyers seeking supply chain stability.

Canada Market Trends

Canada's market is driven by a rising e-commerce sector and a strong need for food and beverage packaging, while even being shaped by sustainability trends as well as government regulations. These factors increase the demand for recyclable materials, boost market expansion, and spur innovation in customized, along with eco-friendly packaging solutions. While recent expense volatility has occurred, the comprehensive market for OCC in Canada shows resilient growth.

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Segment Outlook

Grade Insights

Why did the OCC 12 Segment Dominate the Old Corrugated Container Market in 2024?

Due to a combination of high need driven by e-commerce, its cost-effectiveness, and even the global target for sustainability and recycling. Meanwhile, double-sorted OCC is a higher-quality grade as it is more consistently processed and sorted, contributing to a cleaner and more valuable end-product for paper mills. Because of its consistent quality, OCC 12 has thus historically been more resilient to expense fluctuations compared to lower grades of OCC.

The OCC 11 segment is growing fastest in the market during the forecast period. Due to the increase in e-commerce, which creates a huge volume of utilized cardboard for packaging, and a worldwide push for sustainability which favors recycled materials such as OCC. Other key drivers involve the cost-effectiveness of OCC compared to many virgin materials and the increased need for packaging across numerous consumer goods industries.

As industries such as food, beverages, and electronics expand, so does the requirement for sturdy and reliable packaging, which OCC offers. Innovations in pulping, sorting, and logistics are making the recovery and thus, processing of OCC more efficient together with cost-effective.

Source Insights

Why did the Retail Segment dominate the Old Corrugated Container Market in 2024?

Due to the massive need for versatile, durable, and even cost-effective packaging. This requirement is driven by the demand for strong shipping boxes, the impulse for customizable and brand-improving unboxing experiences, along with the push for sustainable and even recyclable materials such as corrugated cardboard. Corrugated boxes are a highly cost-effective packaging solution because of their efficient usage of materials and compatibility with automated packing systems, that also lowers labor expenses.

End-use Insights

Why did the Food & Beverage Segment dominate the Old Corrugated Container Market in 2024?

This is due to a high and consistent requirement for packaging that is cost-effective, durable, lightweight, and even protective for transport and storage. This is thus driven by e-commerce growth, consumer need for sustainable packaging, and also the industry's ability to leverage corrugated boxes for product branding, hygiene, and even shipping efficiency. The growth of online grocery shopping, along with food delivery services, has created an increase in demand for durable packaging to guarantee products arrive safely at consumers' homes.

Recent Breakthroughs in the Global Old Corrugated Container Industry

In March 2024, DS Smith started "Shop.able Carriers," boxes produced from old corrugated containers, providing consumers with a convenient and sustainable packaging solution for everyday grocery shopping. These solutions are for supermarkets that are replacing plastic bags.

Top Companies in the Old Corrugated Container Market & Their Offerings:

Smurfit Kappa Group: Provides integrated paper and packaging solutions, heavily utilizing Old Corrugated Container (OCC) to manufacture new containerboard and corrugated boxes.
Kruger Inc.: Collects and processes significant amounts of OCC to produce 100% recycled lightweight containerboard and other paper products.
International Paper: A vertically integrated company that collects, processes, and reuses millions of tons of OCC annually to make new paper and packaging products.
RecycleMax: Operates as a recycling specialist, focusing on the collection, sorting, and brokerage of OCC materials to supply mills and other end-users.
Gabriel Container Co.: Specializes in manufacturing corrugated boxes, making them a direct buyer and consumer of OCC as a raw material.
WestRock Company: A major packaging solutions provider and a significant consumer of OCC, which it uses to produce new containerboard through its extensive mill network.
DS Smith Plc: A global packaging company that relies on OCC as a key raw material, operating integrated recycling services to collect and re-pulp fiber for new boxes.
Sonoco Products Company: Uses high levels of recycled fiber from post-consumer content like OCC to produce new packaging, such as rigid paper containers.
Cleanaway Waste Management Limited: Involved in collecting, sorting, and processing recyclables, including OCC, and supplying these materials to paper mills.
Royal Oak Recycling: Collects and processes OCC, which it then sells as a raw material to manufacturers for use in creating new paper and cardboard products.
Green Recycling Ltd.: Processes and trades various recyclable materials, including OCC, collecting and preparing them for sale to manufacturers of paper and packaging.
Allan Company: A recycling business involved in the collection, processing, and sale of recovered fiber, such as OCC, for use in the manufacturing of new paper products.

Segments Covered in the Report

By Grade

OCC 11
OCC 12
WX-OCC

By Source

Retail
Household
Manufacturing Facilities

By End-use

Food & Beverage
Personal Care & Home Care
Logistics & Transportation
Electrical & Electronics
Healthcare
Chemical & Fertilizer
Others (Agriculture, Automotive)

By Region

North America:
- U.S.
- Canada
- Mexico
- Rest of North America
South America:
- Brazil
- Argentina
- Rest of South America
Europe:
- Western Europe
  - Germany
  - Italy
  - France
  - Netherlands
  - Spain
  - Portugal
  - Belgium
  - Ireland
  - UK
  - Iceland
  - Switzerland
  - Poland
  - Rest of Western Europe
Eastern Europe
- Austria
- Russia & Belarus
- Türkiye
- Albania
- Rest of Eastern Europe
Asia Pacific:
- China
- Taiwan
- India
- Japan
- Australia and New Zealand,
- ASEAN Countries (Singapore, Malaysia)
- South Korea
- Rest of APAC
MEA:
- GCC Countries
- Saudi Arabia
- United Arab Emirates (UAE)
- Qatar
- Kuwait
- Oman
- Bahrain
- South Africa
- Egypt
- Rest of MEA

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About Us

Towards Packaging is a global consulting and market intelligence firm specializing in strategic research across key packaging segments including sustainable, flexible, smart, biodegradable, and recycled packaging. We empower businesses with actionable insights, trend analysis, and data-driven strategies. Our experienced consultants use advanced research methodologies to help companies of all sizes navigate market shifts, identify growth opportunities, and stay competitive in the global packaging industry.

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