How to write a sustainability report that survives an actual audit
We had our diversion numbers audited for the first time in 2022 and learned a lot. Here is what we wish we had known before the auditor showed up.
By L. Park, Sustainability
Operations · June 3, 2025 · 10 min readA week in the dispatch hut: 96 hours, six routes, one missing pallet
We let our dispatcher narrate his week. Six routes, fourteen pickups, twelve deliveries, one missing pallet that turned into a mystery and a moral.
By T. Bishop, Dispatch
Industries · April 10, 2025 · 6 min readSmall-batch fermentation, kombucha, and the rise of the 30-inch gaylord
Five years ago we sold maybe ten 30-inch gaylords a month. Now we move 200. The reason is fermentation — and most people in the box industry have not noticed yet.
By P. Whitfield, Yard Lead
Sustainability · February 26, 2025 · 8 min readThe myth of the perfect circle: why no closed-loop system is 100%
Every sustainability slide deck talks about closed loops as if they were closed. They are not — and pretending they are is one of the most expensive mistakes in the industry.
By L. Park, Sustainability
Company · January 14, 2025 · 4 min readWhy we do not offer custom printing on our reclaimed boxes
Customers ask us about custom printing once a week. We say no every single time. Here is the reasoning.
By M. Alvarez, Operations
Policy · November 19, 2024 · 11 min readA field guide to Rocky Mountain recycling policy for procurement teams
Each state in our service area handles corrugated recycling, EPR rules, and reporting requirements differently. Here is the field guide we wish we had four years ago.
By L. Park, Sustainability
Sustainability · October 11, 2024 · 6 min readDenver Eco Boxes vs. the dumpster: what your hauler is not telling you
If you are paying a waste hauler to dispose of empty corrugated, you are probably paying twice: once to lose your boxes and once to lose the value they could have generated.
By L. Park, Sustainability
Buying · August 25, 2024 · 5 min readHow to write a pickup request that gets you the best buy-back price
Six things to include in your first email to us when you have empty boxes you want to sell. The more of these you list, the faster we can quote.
By M. Alvarez, Operations
Technology · July 2, 2024 · 9 min readHow we built our warehouse management system on a $2,000 budget
We did not buy SAP. We did not buy NetSuite. Here is what we did instead, and why a tiny customized open-source WMS has run our entire yard for seven years.
By T. Bishop, Dispatch
Pricing · May 29, 2024 · 8 min readOCC pricing in plain English: what those numbers in the trade press actually mean
If you have ever seen 'OCC #11 at $85/ton' in the recycling trade press and had no idea what to do with that, this post is for you.
By L. Park, Sustainability
Upcycled · April 18, 2024 · 6 min readWhy local product designers keep walking into our yard
Independent industrial designers have started showing up at our yard with sketches and asking for prototype materials. Here is what they are doing with old gaylords.
By P. Whitfield, Yard Lead
Operations · March 21, 2024 · 5 min readWhy we still use water-activated paper tape in 2024
Plastic tape is faster, cheaper per yard, and worse for absolutely everybody. Here is why our yard runs on gummed paper tape instead.
By P. Whitfield, Yard Lead
Case Studies · February 8, 2024 · 10 min readHow we ran a closed-loop pilot with a Boulder outdoor brand
A six-month case study from a Boulder DTC outdoor brand that wanted to reuse the same shipping gaylords across its supply chain. The good, the bad, and the spreadsheet.
By M. Alvarez, Operations
Industries · December 12, 2023 · 7 min readUsed gaylords in cold-chain operations: yes, with caveats
Refrigerated and frozen warehouses are tough on corrugated. Here is what we have learned about which used gaylords survive cold chain and which ones do not.
By L. Park, Sustainability
Operations · October 30, 2023 · 6 min readForklift attachments for gaylords: a buyer’s short list
Most gaylords ride on standard pallets — but a handful of attachments make handling them faster, safer, and much cheaper. Here are the four we recommend.
By T. Bishop, Dispatch
Industries · September 4, 2023 · 7 min readBreweries, grain bags, and the economics of empty containers
Why every craft brewery in Colorado eventually finds us, and what makes spent-grain hauling such a strange and important corner of our work.
By P. Whitfield, Yard Lead
Sustainability · July 15, 2023 · 11 min readThe truth about "100% recycled content" claims on packaging
Almost every corrugated box on a US shelf carries some version of a 'made from recycled content' label. The labels are mostly true and almost entirely useless. Here is why.
By L. Park, Sustainability
Industries · May 26, 2023 · 9 min readHow Colorado cannabis cultivators actually use gaylord boxes
Cure rooms, drying racks, METRC tracking, and what makes a 'cannabis-grade' bulk bin different from a regular doublewall.
By M. Alvarez, Operations
Logistics · March 8, 2023 · 8 min readOne truck, loaded both ways: the only freight rule we care about
Empty trailers are the original carbon crime in reverse logistics. Here's how we route every single truck out of our yard so it never deadheads.
By T. Bishop, Dispatch
Company · January 19, 2023 · 5 min readWhy our company has never had a phone number
Twelve years in business and we have never installed a phone line at the office. People keep asking why. Here is the answer.
By M. Alvarez, Operations
Buying · November 4, 2022 · 6 min readGrade A vs Grade B vs Grade C — explained without photos
Most box recyclers will not show you photos of their grades. Here's what each one actually looks like, in the kind of detail that lets you skip the surprise on delivery day.
By M. Alvarez, Operations
Operations · September 22, 2022 · 9 min readInside the Denver yard: a virtual tour of where used boxes get a second life
A walking tour of our 64,000 square-foot facility — from the inbound dock to the dispatch hut to the spot where retired gaylords get cut up into garden planters.
By P. Whitfield, Yard Lead
Pricing · August 14, 2022 · 7 min readWhy we stopped quoting used gaylords by the pound
For years we sold reclaimed corrugated by the ton. The math was clean and the customers hated it. Here's why we tore up the spreadsheet and started quoting per-unit.
By M. Alvarez, Operations