The largest food distribution center in the world is testing recyclable packaging alternatives for cold food in order to reduce the 30,000 tons of wax-coated packaging it ships out yearly.
Global Green USA is working with the
Hunt's Point Distribution Center in New York City to help the center's 157 vendors switch to recyclable packaging for shipping meat, poultry, seafood and produce to restaurants and grocery stores.
The initiative is starting with poultry packaging. Interstate Container and poultry producer
Mountaire will test various alternatives to wax-coated boxes, to see which work best for different ways poultry is packed.
Mountaire has already switched its export business to recyclable boxes made by Interstate Container, and retailers like Albertsons and Wal-Mart have also switched their poultry containers to recyclable options.
"For poultry, part why Hunt's Point is appealing is the conditions shipping to and from it are harsher than supermarket chains," said Annie White, director of Global Green USA's
Coalition for Resource Recovery. Poultry going from the center is often packed in ice or is in close contact with other ice-packed shipments.
The companies will be testing packaging that has been certified by the Fiber Box Association as recyclable alternatives to wax-coated boxes. The association assesses coated or treated corrugated boxes and determines if they can be easily recycled in common recycling systems in the U.S.
White said one of the other reasons Global Green USA chose to test recyclable packaging at Hunt's Point is because the center is so well know, and if they can prove recyclables work in the harsh conditions around the center, they would hopefully prove to others in the industry that recyclable packaging is a viable option.
If the 30,000 tons of wax-coated boxes used yearly by vendors at the center were all switched to recyclable cardboard, it would save vendors, distributors, restaurants and stores about $3 million in waste disposal fees and bring in $3 million from selling recyclable material.
Boxed Mountaire chicken - photo courtesy Green Global USA
