Klöckner Pentaplast has new ideas for how meat companies can display products in stores and offer more sustainable packaging.

The German company gained trays and films for proteins when it combined with Linpac and has been promoting the offerings’ distinct features—complete recyclability and up to 95 percent recycled content.

Its Elite tray is a mono PET solution for MAP with a #1 recyclable designation, which helps differentiate it from other trays in the market, says Erik King, product manager, food and consumer packaging. Polypropylene trays often come with less than 10 percent recycled content, he notes.

The trays’ sustainable benefits are important at a time when plastics are facing unprecedented criticism, King said at the recent International Processing and Production Expo. “Consumers like the message.” 

Other features:

• Seals through contamination
• Cuts sealing time and temperature
• Reduces leaker rates
• Offers high clarity and strength with light weight
• Pairs with high-barrier lidding film
• Comes in a variety of colors and sizes
• Contains no PE liner

Sometimes producers are concerned about the lack of a barrier in the tray, but King assures them that shelf life is the same.

The trays are offered in a clear option, which has gained popularity in some markets, giving display cases quite a modern look, King notes.

The company also is emphasizing its Evolve S vacuum skin packaging with high-barrier, peelable film and trays of PET or up to 95 percent rPET. The trays are designed to use with Proseal equipment, significantly improving vacuum skinning cycle times.

The transparency enhances shelf appeal, and the tray depth can be reduced for customized display.

The company also provides rollstock for producers that want to form their own trays.

The recyclability helps support a closed-loop process, a priority of kp’s Positive Plastics Pledge. By 2028, the company aims to use only materials that are widely recyclable or sustainably sourced. The company has various new materials under development.

While most of the billions of meat trays used are foam, King says he’s proud of processors for moving toward more sustainable options, a momentum that kp shares. “PET rigid is our future,” he says.

For more information, visit www.kpfilms.com