Encourage Box Reuse with These Reusable Box Ideas

You’ve heard the old adage one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Why not take the reusability of cardboard boxes into consideration when designing your company’s shipping and packaging boxes? Here, we’re listing some of our favorite ideas for reusable boxes, so that you can reduce your company’s impact on the environment while increasing your relationship with your customers. Go beyond the standard shipping cycle, and make sure your brand stays within your customer’s sight long after delivery.

Love It and List It
One of the easiest reusable box ideas to promote recycling? List ways your customers can reuse your boxes on the interior lid or the outside of your packaging. You can also list facts about the environmental impact of recycling, and let customers know that your boxes are made from recyclable material. Customers respect companies they see trying to reduce their impact on the environment, so look for box printing services that will help you clearly print your recycling ideas on your box.

Please Sign Here
No, we aren’t talking about an interaction with a delivery person! Why not include letter stencils inside your packaging (or print them on the box itself so customers can cut them out) to encourage your clients to make festive hanging signs out of cardboard? Whether a big game day, a holiday, or an awesome surprise party is around the corner, customers can print whatever they want and string the letters together to make a killer sign. They’re extra fun to decorate with paint and stickers, and your customers can show off their examples of reusable boxes on social media – just be sure to create a fun hashtag for the signs!

Our customer, Minted, took box re-use to the next level! Printing the work of their artists on the interior of their shipping boxes made for fun and games (and pictures and contests).

Make It Work
Some of our favorite reusable box examples include templates to create a cardboard basketball goal, a box that can fold into a flower pot, or even one that can fold into a cardboard clothes hanger! Not only are these ideas efficient and great for the environment, they’re just fun! We also love how a reusable box design can encourage people to interact with your products and brand. They’ll know you want them to enjoy every aspect of their purchase – which will encourage them to likely buy from you again.

Make It Fun
You might remember playing with some reused cardboard boxes in your own childhood. Give your children the same experience by creating a crawl-friendly maze from old boxes. Encourage your clients to dismantle the boxes and arrange them in a fun maze that will help their children develop problem-solving skills. The sides can be glued or taped together, and decorated with paint for even more creativity. Who needs a corn maze? We prefer cardboard.


If you’re ready to get started on creating a custom package design that proves you know a thing or two about reducing your environmental impact, get in touch with us. Have you done something creative and fun with some of your boxes or packaging? Do you have any other reusable box design ideas? Send us photos of your environmentally-friendly designs or the re-purposing of your cardboard boxes, or comment on our Facebook page or on Twitter. Who knows? You and your company might be featured in a future blog post!

To start your own project, click here or contact us and we’ll help you with all your questions.