There are biodegradable coatings that allow the paper to still be compostable.

If this caught on wouldn't the article be in 5 years "Just 10% of U.S. paper products are composted?" Is the problem really the material or is is the fact that it's single use.

I once had some frozen foods delivered to me in a paper/cardboard box. There was ice around the frozen food, and it had melted partially, and the water had made the bottom of the cardboard box soft and mushy. When I lifted the cardboard box, its bottom tore, and my frozen foods started poking out. A plastic-like bag would not have tore due to wetness/water, would have been be a lot thinner, lighter, and not required any dead trees to make. If it were biodegradable, there no major environmental concerns either.

Paper boxes are also single-use and meant to be recycled, aren't they? This subthread is about how recycling is not enough and how we need to switch to reusable packaging.

Instead of paper boxes, it would be nice if it became the norm to go into stores with our own containers to put our food in instead of using store-provided, single-use packaging. It's ok if they're plastic as long as they're intended and made to be used and reused for years.

IIRC a problem with this is bacteria; bacteria can hang around in reusable bags.

Yes, reusability means that we need to clean more stuff. We won't be able to just throw out dirty stuff anymore.

The paper boxes are bio degradable. A major difference.