Plastics firm unveils innovative new packaging product

TRI-PACK Plastics has unveiled its innovative new packaging system, which will save customers thousands of pounds in transportation costs.

The company, which supplies boxes for the fishing industry, has invested in £750,000 of new machinery at its South Humberside Industrial Estate premises.

Throughout the first week of March, it will be showcasing its equipment to potential customers from across Europe, in order to demonstrate the environmental and financial benefits of the CoolSeal packaging system.

On the 28th February, representatives from 11 Icelandic seafood companies were given a tour of Tri-Pack's factory, with firms from Scotland, Ireland, the Faroe Islands and the United States also due to visit during the week.

Among the equipment the firm has installed is a tray erector, which turns flat sheets into rigid boxes.

Its aim is to sell models of this machine to fish processors overseas, allowing them to assemble the boxes on site, rather than having them transported ready made.

Stephen Clarke, managing director of Tri-Pack, said: "We are showcasing to the companies both our ability as a reliable supplier and their ability to install front of line machinery for their own production lines, allowing us to deliver to distant lands flat die cut sheets for them to assemble on site.

"That is cheaper and more environmentally-friendly because you are using less transport, and gives them far better materials."

Mr Clarke was also keen to highlight the environmental benefits of using polypropylene boxes. The company is in the process of installing machinery which will be able to convert its used fish boxes into pellets, which can be used as a raw material in various non-food items such as car parts.

Mr Clarke said: "Polypropylene is one of the best materials for recycling because it retains all of its original properties.

"We are perceived as the polluter because it is our boxes which are thrown away, but this will allow us to take care of our waste and show our customers in other countries how to do the same. And you can make money out of this."

Tri-Pack is also showcasing a new machine which glues and assembles boxes for local fish merchants in Grimsby and Hull, to meet demand from the industry.

Mr Clarke said: "Flat boxes don't stack on top of each other, what this new machine does is glue the boxes, making them more rigid."

The Icelandic fish merchants were accompanied on their tour by Bjarni Hrafnsson and Johann Oddgeirson, from Samhentir, Tri-Pack's Icelandic distributor.

Mr Hrafnsson said: "We have been developing this concept for the past year and a half and now is the time to show it to the market. The customers I am showing round have never seen boxes like this before. At the moment they are buying paper boxes which are not fit for purpose. The plastic boxes are much stronger and are 100 per cent recyclable."

Source: TRI-PACK Plastics