Income Taxes - Tax Credit Carryforwards (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Tax Credit Carryforward [Line Items]
U.S. Federal & State Research Credits established	$ 20.1	$ 5.5	$ 20.1	$ 0.0
Reduction in tax credit carryforward		$ 1.5	4.5
Valuation allowance against tax credit	$ 5.0		$ 5.0

Tax Credit Carryforward, Change in Amount

No definition available.

Name:	gpk_TaxCreditCarryforwardChangeinAmount
Namespace Prefix:	gpk_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of the difference between reported income tax expense (benefit) and expected income tax expense (benefit) computed by applying the domestic federal statutory income tax rates to pretax income (loss) from continuing operations attributable to research tax credit.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 740
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 12
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32687-109319

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 740
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 13
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32698-109319

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationTaxCreditsResearch
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of valuation allowance pertaining to the deferred tax asset representing potential future taxable deductions from tax credit carryforwards for which it is more likely than not that a tax benefit will not be realized.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 740
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32537-109319

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Glossary Valuation Allowance
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6528051

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardValuationAllowance
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant