Fibre Box Association: Year In Review 2024

Happy New Year from the Fibre Box Association (FBA) team. We hope you had a wonderful holiday season.

Before we race off into another year, we’d like to share some highlights from a very productive 2024.

Data Dashboard: Accessible on the website and mobile device friendly, the dashboard was created to provide members with quick access to current and historical data on shipments, consumption, inventory, and weeks of supply. The data in the system includes the same information that is currently distributed via email and posted to the www.fibrebox.org website. The system will not store or display information that is company/plant specific – only aggregated data for the industry. Further metrics will be available over time subject to input from our committees and membership. Reach out to George DiVenere (gdivenere@fibrebox.org) with any questions or rewatch the Dashboard webinar here.

Major Retailer and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Company Outreach: FBA representatives conducted virtual meetings with half a dozen major Retailers and CPG companies. The purpose was to promote the benefits of corrugated packaging including the superior sustainability of our products.

Benefits of Corrugated Promotion: The Corrugated Industry Promotion Program (CIPP) funded by FBA’s supplier partners was renewed for another three years. The program uniquely advances the benefits of corrugated packaging directly to box users, through outreach in vertical trade publications. Annual insertion orders were placed in January and content including advertising, content marketing, advertorials, social media, and digital placements happened throughout the year. Results are tracked quarterly through the Advertising and Social Media Impact Report found on our website.

The FBA Annual Meeting The Annual Meeting was held at the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Florida in May. The beautiful setting was matched with an equally impressive agenda which included presentations from customers, industry leaders and subject matter experts.

Restarted the Residential Old Corrugated Containers Recovery (ROCCR) Working Group: The ROCCR Working Group was reconvened this year with a focus on identifying ways to improve recovery of OCC, especially in California and other states in the process of adopting Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation. Our industry has a superior recycling rate when compared to other competitive materials and the working group seeks to extend that advantage even further.

The FBA Safety and Health Committee Established the Safety Innovation Award: The FBA Safety & Health Committee awarded three plants with its inaugural Safety Innovation Award. Click here to learn more about the accident prevention innovations from the winners and other applicants and how your company can submit safety innovations for review by the committee for the 2024 award.

Looking ahead, we are very excited about our objectives for 2025. Here are a few:

Promote Corrugated as the Package of Choice: We have a great story to tell. The FBA team will continue to reach out to major retailers and CPGs and explain why corrugated is the package of choice when compared to alternatives such as returnable plastic containers (RPCs).

Partner with the Corrugated Packaging Alliance (CPA) to Update Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs): The CPA will complete its comparative LCA with RPCs in the first quarter and share the anticipated positive results through customer outreach and the CIPP communication channels. The alliance will also complete an updated LCA for GHG only by the end of this year.

Publish a New Edition of the Fibre Box Handbook: The FBA team and members of the Technical Committee have been working hard to have a new edition of the Handbook ready for distribution by March. This new edition has updated data and several new features which will enhance this gold standard tool. Visit the FBA Store to preorder copies for your company.

Advance Residential OCC Recovery: We’ll continue our efforts to work with allied associations such as American Forest and Paper Association, Paper Packaging Board and others to increase the residential recovery of OCC. An objective that is even more important given pending EPR legislation in many states.

Conduct a Must Attend FBA Annual Meeting: The Annual Meeting will be held at the Ritz Carlton Vanderbilt Beach in Naples, Florida May 4 -6, which follows the AICC Spring Meeting. Laurent Sellier, CEO North America for Smurfit Westrock, will be our keynote speaker. Other presenters will cover important issues facing the industry. Registration and more details on the agenda and event will be available this month.

We will work hard to achieve these objectives and many others this year. We feel privileged to serve you and the corrugated industry.

Thank you for your support. We wish you and the members of your company a very happy, heathy, and prosperous New Year!

With warmest regards,

Bob McIlvaine

President/CEO