Industry association Pro Carton has launched a campaign to have ‘cartonboard’ more widely included in English dictionaries.
Pro Carton noted that, despite 85% of Brits surveyed saying they would choose a product packaged in cartonboard over plastic, cartonboard ‘remains in the wilderness’ when it comes to most English dictionaries.
Pro Carton general manager Tony Hitchin launched the campaign at Charing Cross Library in London last month with the aid of a giant dictionary made from cartonboard. The 5ft-tall dictionary was made entirely of the recyclable, biodegradable and renewable packaging material. It was made by the designers at Graphic Packaging. The open ‘pages’ feature a definition of cartonboard, which Pro Carton would like to see included in the modern lexicon.
Mr Hitchin said, ‘We want 2020 to be the start of a new era for cartonboard in the UK. Cartonboard is used by huge numbers of retailers and brands, yet you won’t find it in the dictionary and when you type it, computers simply don’t recognise it.
‘Cartonboard deserves a place in the dictionary because there are important properties that distinguish it from ‘cardboard’ – a more general term – and indeed corrugated cardboard – which is generally used for transport packaging. Cartonboard is used to package everything from breakfast cereals, to frozen foods, to luxury fragrances and smartphones. We want consumers to adopt the word ‘cartonboard’, and to help them understand how environmentally-friendly it is with our clear definition.’
This campaign follows the introduction of the Carton Campaigners initiative to showcase the five Rs of responsibility, building on the well-known three Rs of recycling.
