Used Carton Boxes in Malaysia: Grades, Prices and Where to Buy
Short answer: a once-used carton box in Malaysia costs RM0.90–RM5.00 depending on size and wall type — roughly half to a third of the equivalent new box — and for moving house, storage and most parcel shipping it does the same job. The catch is knowing what you’re buying: “used” covers everything from a clean, once-emptied export carton to something that has been round the block five times. This guide explains the difference.
What “once-used” actually means
The boxes we sell as used are once-used export and factory cartons. They carried one shipment — instant noodles, electronics, garments — were emptied at a warehouse, and collected before they could be crushed or pulped. They are flattened, sorted by size and condition, and anything torn, damp or smelly is rejected for recycling instead.
That is a different thing from a marketplace “used box”, which may have been through several house moves already. A box loses stacking strength each time it is taped, filled, and crushed into a lorry — the corrugated flutes inside the wall compress and never fully recover. Once-used stock keeps most of its original strength; twice- or thrice-used stock does not, and you can’t always see the difference from outside.
How the pricing works
| Type | Typical size | Once-used price | New equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small (single wall) | ~320 × 165 × 230mm | RM0.90–RM1.20 | RM1.10–RM2.00 |
| Small (double wall) | ~300 × 200 × 250mm | RM1.80 | RM2.50–RM3.50 |
| Medium (double wall) | ~460 × 330 × 310mm | RM3.50 | RM5.00–RM7.00 |
| Large (single wall) | ~580 × 480 × 400mm | RM3.50 | RM6.00–RM8.00 |
| Large (double wall) | ~590 × 380 × 380mm | RM5.00 | RM8.00+ |
Prices are our own — see the full range with current stock on the used carton boxes category. Two patterns worth noticing: the saving grows with the size of the box, and double-wall used stock often costs less than single-wall new stock while being stronger.
Which grade for which job
- Moving house: used double-wall, every time. A house move is exactly one trip, the box’s printing doesn’t matter, and the money saved across 50–70 boxes pays for the lorry. See how many boxes a Malaysian house move actually needs.
- Storage: used boxes are fine for dry, indoor storage. In Malaysian humidity, keep them off bare concrete floors — cardboard goes soft when it drinks moisture.
- E-commerce shipping: depends on your brand. The parcel arrives with someone else’s printing on the box — many Shopee and TikTok Shop sellers happily trade that for margin; premium brands usually want plain new boxes.
- Fragile or heavy goods: buy new double-wall, or step up a wall grade in used. The wall, not the age, carries the load — but with fragile items you want every percent of crush strength the flutes have.
The environmental case, honestly
Reusing a carton beats recycling it. Recycling still means transport, re-pulping, de-inking and re-manufacturing — a used box skips the entire loop for one more life. Malaysia’s recovered-paper system will still get the box eventually; reuse just delays that trip while saving the emissions of making a fresh one. If your customers ask about packaging sustainability, “our cartons are on their second life” is a better answer than most.
Where to buy in KL & Selangor
Quinocycle stocks once-used cartons in small, medium, large and jumbo sizes at our Balakong warehouse — walk in and pick sizes off the pallet (Mon–Fri 8.30am–5pm, Sat to 1pm), or order online with next-working-day delivery across KL & Selangor, free over RM300. Outside the Klang Valley we ship by courier. If you need quantities in the hundreds for a factory or office move, ask us about pallet pricing on the wholesale page.