The benefits of recycling paper-based packaging include extending the supply of a valuable natural resource (wood fiber), saving landfill space, avoiding greenhouse gas emissions of methane released when paper decomposes in landfills and reducing the amount of energy needed to produce some paper products.

Nearly 81% of all paper-based packaging in the U.S. is recovered for recycling, and more than 96% of corrugated (cardboard) boxes are recycled. Only 14% of U.S. plastic packaging is recycled.[1] In Canada, the national recovery rate of old corrugated boxes for recycling is an estimated 85%, with at least one provincial recycling program reaching 98%.[2] Corrugated box fibers are recycled 7-10 times to make new boxes and other paper products.[3]

Globally, only 14% of plastic packaging is collected for recycling. In addition, plastic packaging is almost exclusively single-use, especially in business-to-consumer applications. Plastics that do get recycled are mostly recycled into lower-value applications that are not again recyclable after use.
World Economic Forum, 2016

Around 90% of folding cartons (by the ton) in North America sent to the frozen foods sector are made of recyclable paperboard, and are easily recyclable in the normal waste stream.[4]

In addition to being recyclable, paper and cardboard packaging is made with recycled fiber. In the U.S. for example, the average corrugated box is made with 50% recycled content, and nearly all old corrugated containers are used to make new paper products.[5]

In Canada, corrugated boxes and boxboard used for products like cereal and shoe boxes are mostly 100% recycled content.[6]

Nearly all Americans[7] and Canadians[8] have access to community curbside and/or drop-off recycling programs for paper and paper-based packaging.

Today, 95% of plastic packaging material value, or $80 billion to $120 billion US annually, is lost to the economy after a short first use. The best research currently available estimates that there are over 150 million tons of plastics in the ocean today. The ocean is expected to contain one ton of plastic for every three tons of fish by 2025, and by 2050, more plastics than fish (by weight).
Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017

Sources:

1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2021
2. Paper and Paperboard Packaging Environmental Council (PPEC), 2020
3. Fibre Box Association (FBA), 2020
4. Paperboard Packaging Council, 2019
5. FBA, 2020
6. Paper & Paperboard Packaging Environmental Council (PPEC), 2019
7. American Forest & Paper Association, 2019
8. PPEC, 2020