What is the basic come of?
A paper packaging is basically made up of a flute (made up of recycled paper), sandwiched between two liners. It is now very common for these liners to also be made up of a considerable proportion of recycled content, sourced from old cardboard or other sources of second hand paper.
However for top quality boxes virgin Kraft is still used. In actual fact though, it doesn’t really matter whether the paper is recycled or not, ultimately it always started out as virgin paper which is made from trees that have been pulped.
When manufacturing paper packaging we talk about two different types of liners, this is the material that lies on top and beneath the fluting and creates a corrugated board. Typically, paper packaging have a test paper inner liner, and a Kraft paper outer. This is because Kraft is better quality than test, and has a smoother finish so that it can be easily printed on. Kraft also has the benefit of being more resistant to water penetration which is an added benefit of using it for the outer face
The look of Kraft paper can differ depending on the type of tree it has come from for example Kraft from Scandinavian Spruce, Pine and Silver Birch is dark brown in colour, however Russian variants of the same tree type appear a more varied brown with dark patches. In Brazil, Eucalyptus and Spruce are used and the Kraft they produce is light brown, whereas Chinese trees have a yellowish hue due to the high straw content in their Kraft.