Unpopular opinion: My store's cardboard pile showed me a gap in green startups.

I see stacks of cardboard every day at my hardware store that just get recycled, not reused. It made me think startup founders could make real money by finding new uses for this kind of waste. Like, a company could turn old packaging into cheap building materials or insulation. That's a fix for both trash problems and high material costs for new businesses.

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jesse1mo ago

Moisture ruins most cardboard reuse plans fast.

evawells1mo ago

Yeah it's wild how many things moisture just wrecks. I see it all the time with wood and paper stuff too, it's like this quiet destroyer of good intentions.

drew_young101mo ago

Oh man, @the_jesse is right about moisture wrecking everything. I once tried to build a storage shelf from leftover boxes (a real brilliant idea) and it basically melted into pulp when my basement got damp. That soggy mess taught me that any reuse plan needs to beat the water problem first. So maybe startups could focus on coatings or mixes that keep cardboard from falling apart.