Corrugated board continues to become lighter. Carton Ondulé de France reports that the average grammage of packaging has increased from 580 g/m 2 in 1995 to 487 g/m 2 in 2025, a 16% drop. After several years of continuous reduction, the level is now stabilizing around this threshold.
The trade organization, which represents over 80% of the French corrugated board industry, links this development to long-term work on packaging eco-design. The industry explains that, over the past ten years, it has invested more than 100âeuros000Â euros in research and filed 500Â patents to improve packaging design and reduce volumes.
And this strategy is being pursued at a time when paper and packaging manufacturers are going through tense times. The sector is facing insufficient demand in several customer markets, high energy and raw material costs, and reduced economic visibility.
Reducing volumes and adapting to e-commerce
By 2025, the industry had filed around 19 patents, focusing in particular on reducing empty space and adapting formats to new uses such as e-commerce.
Carton Ondulé de France emphasizes that these developments anticipate future European requirements. In particular, the regulations provide for a 50% void limit in transport and distribution packaging by 2030.
Manufacturers are also working on single-material packaging, water-based inks and glue reduction to improve product recyclability.
A model based on recycled fibres
The industry points out that corrugated board is manufactured on average with over 90% recycled fiber. According to Ademe, the recycling rate for paper and cardboard packaging will reach 94.8% in 2023.
Philippe Durand, President of Carton Ondulé de France, believes that " the corrugated board industry demonstrates every day that it is possible to combine innovation, eco-design and environmental performance". However, it calls for a regulatory framework " adapted to our industrial realities" in a difficult economic climate. "Steering an industrial sector like ours with a theoretical, even dogmatic, approach is no longer conceivable, nor possible, if we wish to preserve our national economic fabric."
