It is best to use plain brown cardboard boxes. Dyed packaging is fine too, but avoid anything with a glossy coating. The shiny layer is typically made from plastic that won't break down into the soil.

Online retailers are giving the humble cardboard box an extreme makeover, transforming a six-sided receptacle for delivering goods into the new shopping bag. Out: brown, plain, boring. In: neon ...

And the suggestion is to combat obesity by mandating that fast foods and so-called "junk foods" be packaged in plain brown wrappers, much as pornography used to be in more discreet times. So instead ...

This is undoubtedly true, which is why it’s important to use only uncoated, plain brown boxes – also known as clean cardboard.

Online retailers are giving the humble cardboard box an extreme makeover, transforming a four-sided receptacle for delivering goods into the new shopping bag. Out: brown, plain, boring.