Color of Cardboard...?

Question

Random question i know, but has anyone ever wondered why almost all cardboard material is that "cardboard" brown color. yea yea, many different colors of cardboard boxes and boards, but all have that distinctive brown color inside. Stupid question i know, just popped in my head while riding in car with fiance..lol. Why this color...?

Answer 1

First, a litte quibble. Cardboard is usually made from recycled paper and tends to be grey. The brown stuff is corrugated board. I suspect that the paper starts out grey but gets dyed, so it doesn't look so, umm, recycled. Why brown? It works, it's cheap, and it's been done that way for a long time. Chalk it up to tradition. There is, however, white corrugated board for fancier cartons.