Supermarket fresh food packaging has traditionally been a combination of rigid plastics or expanded polystyrene (foam trays) and overwrap film. You have probably purchased hundreds of meat items, produce and prepared food packaged on these trays over the years. For decades this functional and inexpensive packaging has been the way goods are packaged and sold… until now.
Today many plastics and specifically foam trays have become the target of community groups and environmentalists. The number of these trays sitting almost indefinitely in landfills is staggering. Over a billion fresh food trays are used every year in the US, with one major supermarket chain using over 400 million trays A YEAR! It is interesting to note that the fresh food that has a shelf life measured in days is packaged in plastics that have a life measured in centuries. For every million fresh food trays used, two tons of Polystyrene ends up in landfills. Both fresh food processors and supermarket retailers are looking for “environmentally acceptable” alternatives.
Although the west coast is the epicenter for this environmental initiative to ban these foam trays (cities like Seattle, Portland and over 20 cities in California have banned Polystyrene in 2010), other parts of the country are now taking up the cause. Today’s molded fiber trays are not made from trees but from annually renewable resources including sugar cane pulp, bamboo, and other natural vegetation. These sustainable raw materials have a number of common characteristics including degradability, compostability, and a universal acceptance that this new packaging is “greener” and more eco-friendly. Though there is no telling how long these packages will be around, unlike their counterparts, they are not made to sit in a landfill forever. “Not from trees; not from petroleum,” is the mantra of this green packaging trend.
Fresh food packaging has relied on uniform and industry accepted sizes, shapes and colors. When you think of a blue tray…the first thing that should pop into your mind is fresh mushroom packaging. Black trays? Fresh meat. The dilemma is that adding colors and bleaching trays has a greater impact and does more harm to our environment.
The natural color of renewable plant sources, most often a khaki brown, creates a “green cache” that has not only caught the creative imagination of the Supermarkets but also the passion of growing legions of environmentally concerned customers. In addition, as the organic fresh food segment continues to grow, there is undoubtedly a disconnect between an organic food product and the foam tray it is sitting on. Natural packaging for healthy, fresh natural food just makes sense.
Natural fiber molded trays not only meet the functional requirements of the Supermarkets but also provide a level of satisfaction to a growing number of concerned customers. There are some who say these natural molded fiber trays are not as pretty as their plastic counterparts… but in the face of an ever-growing “green” sentiment, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
Richard Feldman has over 30 years experience in the packaging business. His company, G4 Packaging is based in Los Angeles California.
