CATSCRATCHBOX.COM       THE MATERIAL WE USE TO MAKE OUR BOXES The very nature of our work grew out of care and concern: to stop the declawing of cats. It is a bonus that our cat scratch boxes give cats pleasure since every cat we know LOVES "their" cat box.  We share a concern as well for the environmental impact the materials we use have, so we thought it might be of interest to show you specifically what we use and why. We tried in the beginning to use only recycled wood and cardboard, but the amount of time and energy (electricity, equipment, materials, etc.) made it impractical and illogical financially and environmentally.  Financially each box would cost well over a $100 dollars. Let's face it--no one, or not enough people, would spend that--and the health and well being of cats is too important to us.  Second, we weren't doing  any good environmentally because the production process resulted in a grossly negative impact. We researched our options thoroughly, reviewed many environmental websites, revised and refined our processes over many years, and our current  product is the result.   WOOD All of the wood used for the boxes is farm raised, supplied to us through a local lumberyard.  It is called, "Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified"--and it is the pinnacle certification for a tree farm to obtain. If you would like, you can go to this Greenpeace website for an explanation: http://archive.greenpeace.org/foresthouse/ Our most popular box for example is made with a South American species of wood called cambara (it looks like mahogany). If you would like to see the care that goes into their products, this is a link to the company who supplies the cambara:              http://www.ironwoods.com/MainEnvr.asp    CARDBOARD The cardboard is supplied to us from a New Hampshire company.  It is literally industrial strength double walled corrugated. This is the same material used to pack heavy equipment, and the content is approximately 60% from recycled material.  This amount has been pre-determined for cardboard products requiring strength, since fully recycled paper becomes too slippery to hold it's shape. This strength enables us to offer you a cat box that we KNOW lasts for years. We have found it is essential to get such a heavy-duty cardboard when you consider how powerful a cat's claws are.   The store varieties tell you that they are made from recycled material in nice sized large letters on the front of the box, and then define it at as "about 30% recycled" in small print on the back. They then go on to recommend that you recycle their product when you are done with it. However, since they get shredded to pieces within a few monthes there is nothing much left TO recycle. We hope you feel, as we do, that we are taking the correct approach. The environment is of major importance to us. It has been and will be a  part of every decision we make.  It goes hand in hand with how we feel about our love for cats.   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RETURN TO:  ALL ABOUT OUR CAT BOX