An Eco-Friendlier Shoe Box

Brooks truly thought out of the box for its new shoe box design, which launched January 1, 2008. Made of fully biodegradable, 100-percent recycled (100 percent post-consumer recycled) paperboard, our new box features only non-toxic, soy-based inks with no heavy metals. All stuffing and wrapping inside the box has been reduced and is also made of biodegradable, 100-percent recycled materials. The box itself and each shoe stay—that molded piece of cardboard inserted into each shoe to help it maintain its shape during shipping—easily fold flat to minimize recycling bin bulk.

Brooks also made a point to eliminate inks and expose the Kraft paper where ink printing is not necessary. Just look at the bottom of the new box for proof. And to naysayers who believe recycled boxes are flimsier? Not ours. Brooks brewed the new recycled paperboard composition in a way that maintains its integrity while reducing overall weight by 13 percent. Putting it all into context, in 2008 alone Brooks’ new shoe boxes logged the following environmental savings in materials and production resources:

• 1,680,617 lb. of paper (that’s 14,285 trees)
• 5,882,159 gal. of water (equivalent to 341,985 eight-minute showers)
• 3,361,233 kW of energy (enough to power basic items in 672,246 homes)
• 50,419 less tons of air pollution
• 134,500 tons of global freight weight