Cardboard boxes now 'like gold' to food banks struggling to keep up with demand

The cost of cardboard is the latest struggle London's food bank is adding to its list of problems, with ever-increasing demand putting pressure on the supply of boxes used to store and distribute food.

It's yet another example of the increasingly tight situation food banks across the country are finding themselves in as inflation and other factors drive up the cost of food, rent, and even cardboard, said London Food Bank co-director Glen Pearson.

"The usage of these boxes and the need for the boxes has doubled," Pearson said of the past two years. "It just shows you how the food bank world is changing. We're having to re-think all of this stuff."

The London Food Bank has experienced a sharp increase in visits since the COVID-19 pandemic began, with more community agencies than ever before turning to the service to feed clients, and a record number of families and individuals being serviced as well.

Adding the cost of boxes to the equation has increased strain on the operation, said Jane Roy, Pearson's counterpart as co-director of the food bank.

As it turns out, she says, boxes aren't cheap when you're buying thousands of them.

"We've spent about $5,000 so far this year at about 50 cents a box — and that's at a reduced rate," Roy said. "Last year, we spent $20,000 on boxes."

That's not counting the thousands of paper bags the food bank distributes food in, which cost 10 to 15 cents a piece, she added.

The boxes London's food bank buys are a small portion of the boxes that are donated, but the current trajectory of food insecurity is likely to increase that amount significanly, Pearson said.

Since the beginning of its almost 40 year history the London Food Bank, like food banks across Canada, have relied on the generosity of breweries such as London's Labatt Brewery for a sizable portion of their box supply, he said. Those boxes are usually either misprinted or have advertisements for promotions that are no longer running.

"They were what the clients told us were ideal for them to carry things home. They were also ideal for stacking in the warehouse, and we never had to pay for those boxes," Pearson said. "The breweries have been so generous."

However, while the London Food Bank continues to go through roughly 4,500 beer boxes every month, the number they're getting has declined while demand has climbed due to the competing needs of other food banks.

"More used to be given to us, but Toronto Daily Bread, for example, gets literal truckloads of these boxes," said Roy, acknowledging that demand is higher in Toronto. "We try not to compete with each other, and we talk to each other."

The natural solution, Roy said, is to take steps to reduce the amount of cardboard the food bank goes through. Those steps include asking clients to bring their own reusable bags, and beginning preliminary discussions on potentially asking for public donations.