Custom Molded Pulp Boxes
Custom molded pulp boxes and trays formed from recycled fiber to the exact shape of your product, from 500 units. Compostable, curbside-recyclable, the cushioning built into the box rather than added to it — in a rough grade for shipping, a smooth grade for retail, or a thermoformed grade that takes print and reads as premium.
A box pressed from fiber into the shape of the thing inside
- Fiber
- Recycled paper, bagasse or bamboo; natural, bleached or dyed
- Grades
- Wet-press rough, dry-press smooth, thermoformed
- Formats
- Tray, end cap, cradle insert, clamshell, box with lid
Get a price for Molded Pulp Boxes
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
Three grades, from egg carton to retail
The rough grade is the cheapest per piece and the strongest for its weight, and it looks like what it is. The thermoformed grade is what a cosmetics or electronics brand means by a pulp box: a clean, off-white, slightly textured surface that reads as considered. The fiber is the same; the tooling and the drying are different.
| Wet-press, rough | Egg-carton texture, thick walls, the cushioning grade; shipping trays and end caps |
|---|---|
| Dry-press, smooth | Finer surface, thinner walls, one smooth face; retail inserts and clamshells |
| Thermoformed | Both faces smooth, tight tolerances, takes print and foil; premium boxes and lids |
Tooling, and why the minimum is higher
Every molded pulp part needs a forming tool — a machined screen in the shape of the part — and a matching transfer or press tool. That tooling costs more than a cutting die for a carton, which is why a pulp box makes sense from about 500 units rather than 100, and why a product that changes shape every season is a poor candidate. Once the tool exists the piece cost is low and it is reused for years. The arithmetic is the same as for any tooled package, and our note on what a small run really costs walks through it.
Pulp shrinks as it dries, so the tool is cut oversize by a factor the molder knows for the fiber. A part cannot be re-cut once the tool is made — send the actual product, not a drawing.
What it does well
- Cushioning built in: a bottle tray, an end cap for an appliance, a cradle for a device, with no foam.
- Fully compostable and curbside-recyclable with paper, with no liner and no film.
- A shape that cannot be made by folding — a cradle, a dome, a nested set of cavities.
- A retail clamshell or box that opens without a blade and closes with a fiber tab.
Print, and the sleeve
Rough and dry-press pulp does not print well — the surface is uneven and the fiber absorbs ink — so the brand goes on a printed paperboard sleeve or lid around the pulp part, which is also where the barcode and the regulatory text live. Thermoformed pulp takes a printed label, a debossed logo in the tool, or a foil stamp on the flat faces. The pulp itself comes in natural kraft brown, bleached off-white, or dyed through in a color, and the color is the design. For the claims that can go on a pulp box, our guide to compostable and recyclable claims sets out what a certification requires.
Molded Pulp Boxes — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Fiber
- Recycled paper, bagasse or bamboo; natural, bleached or dyed
- Grades
- Wet-press rough, dry-press smooth, thermoformed
- Formats
- Tray, end cap, cradle insert, clamshell, box with lid
- Tooling
- Forming and transfer tools per part; product sample required
- Deboss or foil on thermoformed; printed sleeve or lid on rough grades
- Minimum
- 500 pieces
On every job
- Print process
- Flexo in one to four colors straight onto the liner; litho-lamination where the box needs full color or a photograph.
- Color
- Flat colors on kraft. Full color needs a white top liner or a laminated sheet, because brown shifts every color warm.
- Tolerance
- Cutting plus or minus 1.5 mm. The flute compresses, so corrugated runs wider than folding board.
- Tooling
- No die on a regular slotted box, which is cut on a slotter. Die-cut mailers and trays need one, made once and kept.
- Food contact
- Food-grade liners and a vented build where the box carries hot food.
- Sustainability
- High recycled content through liners and flute as standard, and the box recycles whole if it is sealed with paper tape.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build molded pulp boxes on
Corrugated is a fluted sheet glued between two liners, and the flute decides nearly everything: how it prints, how it dents, how high it stacks. These are the grades we run.
E flute
About 1.5 mm. Prints well and folds crisply; dents under a stack. Retail boxes, mailers and light shippers.
1.5 mm, single wallB flute
About 3 mm. The working default for parcels — takes print reasonably and stacks reasonably. Most shipping boxes are B.
3 mm, single wallC flute
About 4 mm. More cushioning than B, slightly less stacking strength per weight. Common on grocery and produce cases.
4 mm, single wallBC double wall
B and C glued together, about 7 mm. Heavy or fragile goods, pallet stacking, anything over roughly 15 kg.
7 mm, double wallKraft liner
Brown, strong, absorbent. One or two flat colors flexo print well on it; photographs drink into the brown and go muddy.
Outer and inner linerWhite top liner
A bleached outer liner for full-color print on corrugated. Costs more and marks more easily than kraft.
Outer liner onlyRecycled-content corrugated
High post-consumer fiber through liners and flute. The default for shippers; a slightly greyer brown and no loss of strength at grade.
All flutesCoated and water-resistant
A coating or a wax-free barrier liner for damp stores and cold chains. Check the recycling stream before printing a claim on it.
B and C fluteNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
Corrugated takes fewer finishes than folding board, and the ones it takes it takes well.
Flexo on kraft
One or two flat colors straight onto brown. Cheap, fast, honest.
Litho-lamination
An offset sheet glued to the flute: full color and photographs on a shipper.
Aqueous varnish
Scuff resistance with no film, so the box still recycles whole.
White top print
Full color flexo on a bleached liner; brighter, and it marks more easily.
Inside print
A second pass on the inner liner — the panel a customer sees first.
Printed tape seal
The brand applied at the last moment, on paper tape that recycles with the box.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing a corrugated box against the carrier, not the catalog: molded pulp boxes
Corrugated is cut to your internal size, so the box goes round the product rather than the product going into a stock size. That is where the money is: a box 20 mm smaller each way is often a whole postage band cheaper.
- Internal dimensions
- Length, width and depth of the space you need. Board thickness is added outside that, and the flute is thicker than people expect.
- Clearance and void fill
- 5–10 mm a side for a rigid product. Size it properly and you need no void fill at all, which is cheaper and better received.
- Stacking
- Tell us how high the boxes stack on a pallet or a shelf. Edge crush grade is specified from that, not guessed.
- Weight
- The contents weight sets the flute and the liner grade. Over about 15 kg we move to double wall.
- Score allowance
- Corrugated needs more room at the folds than boxboard. The dieline accounts for it; a box drawn from flat dimensions comes out tight.
- Cutting tolerance
- Plus or minus 1.5 mm on corrugated, wider than folding board because the flute compresses.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Build your Molded Pulp Boxes in 3D
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a board and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about molded pulp boxes? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
What is molded pulp?
Paper fiber slurried in water, drawn onto a shaped screen and dried into a rigid form — the egg carton process, applied to trays, cradles and boxes.
Is it compostable?
Yes, with no liner or film. It is also curbside-recyclable with paper.
Why is the minimum 500?
Each part needs a forming tool and a transfer tool, which cost more than a cutting die. From 500 the tooling spreads; below that a carton with an insert is cheaper.
Can it be printed?
Thermoformed pulp takes a deboss, a foil stamp or a label. The rough grades do not print well, so the brand goes on a printed sleeve or lid.
Which grade should I choose?
Rough for shipping cushioning, smooth for retail inserts, thermoformed for a premium box or lid that is seen.
Does it replace foam?
Yes, for end caps, bottle trays and device cradles. The cushioning is in the shape.
Can it be colored?
Yes — natural brown, bleached off-white, or dyed through in a color. The color is part of the tool run.
What do you need to make the tool?
The actual product. Pulp shrinks as it dries and the tool cannot be re-cut, so we form to the physical item.
Is it food safe?
Yes, in a food-grade fiber — bagasse or virgin pulp — for trays and clamshells.
How long does it take?
Longer than a carton, because the tool is made first. We give a tooling date and a production date with the quote.
Can I reuse the tool?
Yes, for years. Reorders skip the tooling cost entirely.
Will you send a sample?
A sample from an existing tool in the grade you want, so you can see the surface. A sample in your shape needs the tool.
Same range
