Plastic egg trays are more climate conscious than you would believe. They are light-weight, protective and can be easily recycled to make new egg trays. On the other hand, moulded fiber packaging, though considered better, is not without its flaws either. So how should you go about choosing your egg tray?
Choose one that offers dual benefits – perfectly protected eggs and sustainability. AVI Global Plast designs packaging for eggs with 100% recycled PET beverage bottles which makes room for several sustainable advantages, the biggest being reduced waste by preventing egg breakages. Our recycled plastic egg trays are also the lowest environmentally impacting of all egg packaging types.
Let’s drill-down on key characteristics that make plastic egg trays a safe bet for fulfilling future consumption needs:
Choosing plastic egg cartons over moulded fiber ones can help in controlling pollution worldwide. Their optimal density and light-weight allow more eggs to be stacked in a given truck versus bulkier alternatives. This enables lesser truck deliveries leading to lower emission levels.
Indeed, plastic takes longer to breakdown but what is lesser known is that pulp-based cartons degrade to release greenhouse gases like methane, which has a 28 times higher Global Warming (GWP) than that of carbon-dioxide. Simply put, plastic egg trays have a lower impact on global warming than pulp-based ones.
According to lifecycle assessment studies conducted, manufacturing plastic egg cartons with recycled PET material reduces energy consumption , carbon footprint and as well as water consumption compared to pulp-based egg packs. At an aggregate level, rPET footprint is 40% lower than pulp footprint.
Stacked empty, plastic egg trays need lesser space for storage and transport. This lowers inventory and transport costs, making it easier on the pocket than moulded fiber egg trays. Their denesting characteristic of plastic egg packs makes it easy to pick and fill more packs per hour, be it done manually or through automatic machines. Put another way, you can save on labour costs or achieve higher productivity.
Breakage of a single egg leads to wastage of about 200 litres of water. According to the Food Waste Index 2021 Report, about one billion tons of food is wasted every year, which contributes to 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The environmental benefit of waste avoided is usually 5 to 10 times higher than the environmental cost of the packaging.
At AVI Global Plast, we focus on making climate-conscious plastic egg trays that satisfy both needs – food protection and packaging sustainability. Need guidance on choosing egg trays that match your preference? Get in touch with us, we have a wide array of designs to choose from!