Plastic Container Blog

Some grocers are using recycled plastic pallets when shipping products to stores as a measure to help the customers, as well as themselves. Read more about this here.

Lowcountry grocery stores are going greener for customers — and themselves
By JIM FABER
jfaber@islandpacket.com
843-706-8137
Published Tuesday, May 27, 2008
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“Green grocer” is a term that once referred to a grocery store that sold only fruits and vegetables. But now, the term is starting to have a different meaning in the Lowcountry.

Take the Piggly Wiggly at Shelter Cove on Hilton Head Island, for example. After introducing reusable bags a few years ago to uninterested shoppers, the chain, which has a regional headquarters in Charleston, brought the bags back at the start of the year, said Bob Cook, operator of the Shelter Cove store.

This time it worked, he said. And efforts to persuade shoppers to bring back their plastic bags to be recycled caught on, too.

“We have a lot of people buying the (99-cent) canvas bags,” Cook said. “And a lot more people are bringing back bags (to recycle).”

Even tourists who shop in the store bring reusable bags, often bearing the logo of grocers who don’t have stores here.

Other simple, energy-saving steps that Piggly Wigglys have taken include removing neon signs, turning down the lights when the store is closed and hooking refrigeration units up to a central computer to monitor their effectiveness, Cook said.

Harris Teeter, the North Carolina-based grocer with two island stores, also offers 99-cent reusable bags and recycling for used bags. The company uses shopping baskets made from 100 percent recycled plastic, and recycled plastic pallets when shipping products to stores, according to

Jennifer Panetta, director of communications for the company.

Florida-based Publix, which has two stores on the island and one in Bluffton, has added 75 hybrids to its fleet of cars and light trucks. The grocer also uses recycled or recyclable packaging on all of its private label products, unless that would compromise food safety, according to Dwaine Stevens, a company spokesman.

The store also sells reusable bags.

North Carolina-based Food Lion, which has stores in Bluffton and on the island, has more than 725 stores that have earned the Energy Star designation for energy efficiency.

Company spokeswoman Karen Peterson and local employees couldn’t say for sure whether southern Beaufort County stores had that designation, but all remodeled stores in the chain are supposed to be updated to be more environmentally friendly.

The Bluffton store was recently remodeled.

Food Lion also sells reusable bags.

Fresh Market, the North Carolina chain with a store on the island, launched its 99-cent reusable bags in February. Previously, the store sold $9.99 canvas bags, which are still available, said Jennifer Foushee, a company spokeswoman.

The new 99-cent bags will be changed seasonally with a design appropriate to that season, she said.

Rubbermaid offers many different sizes and options of plastic totes and bins.  You can read more about this here.

Why Closet Storage Systems Make Organization Easier

By Meryl Shana

Are you thinking about converting a spare closet for extra storage? You should be aware of all the options you have for installing storage closet systems. You can choose from thousands of different plastic bins, shelves, and boxes.

You’ll first need to decide what’s most important to you: Form, function, or a combination of the two. If it doesn’t matter how coordinated everything is in your storage area, you’ll have more options available to you. Canvas toes, rolling bins, and plastic tubs are just some examples.

Rubbermaid makes an amazing selection of plastic totes and bins that you can use in your closet storage. They range in size from small food storage containers, which are also great for hardware and craft supplies, to giant totes that are large enough for your biggest storage needs, like holiday decorations and patio furniture cushions.

Place the very largest bins on the floor, underneath wall mounted shelving, and fill the shelves themselves with an array of different sized bins.

Labeling is one of the keys to good closet storage systems. You should clearly label each tote, bin, and tub so that you’ll always know what’s inside.

It’s best to keep all similar items in one place, so that way you can tell what’s in any box just at a glance. You can use a label maker to make the process easier, and you can always peel off the labels and switch them out later if you need to.

Another option is to label the storage bin with a permanent marker, or you can tape a piece of paper to the side or front of the bin that describes the contents.

Clear or translucent professional organizer bins are a great choice, since you don’t have to create quite so detailed labels for them. You can see the contents at a glance, which means you can be even more organized and save yourself some time.

Rubbermaid has a great selection of these that you can use in your closet storage systems, too. Keep in mind that you can also get specialty storage for your closet, too, for gift wrap, craft items, and other hobby supplies and item.

Agrecovery is a new program that reprocesses certain plastic containers and is quickly gaining interest from the primary production sector. Read more about this specifics of this here.

Chemical plastics head underground
5:00AM Monday May 26, 2008
By Angela Gregory
A nationwide rural recycling scheme that turns used agrichemical plastic containers into underground electrical cable cover is fast gaining interest from the primary production sector.

Tomorrow marks the first annual meeting of Agrecovery - marking its first year of success.

Agrecovery is a new programme that recovers and reprocesses agrichemical plastic containers and employs the world’s first plastic shredding truck.

Bruce Emerson, director of 3R Group, said the scheme had proven popular, with an estimated 80,000 containers recovered in the first year. “We expect to treble that.”

Farmers and horticulturists triple-rinse their 20-litre chemical containers and deposit them at one of 50 nationwide collection sites.

They are stored in shipping containers until they are picked up by a truck that shreds them before transporting them to plastic reprocessors in Auckland and Christchurch.

The truck was designed specifically to process agrichemical containers, and in its travels has raised the profile of the programme.

“The highly visual truck has created an enormous amount of public interest and has become one of our best public awareness and education tools,” Mr Emerson said.

The shredded plastic is turned into underground electrical cables. “We can’t give them [the manufacturers] enough.”

Mr Emerson said it was estimated about five million agrichemical containers were used in the primary produce sector a year, many ending up dumped or burned.

The Agrecovery programme was paid for through a levy on the chemical products, a system that had the support of about 85 per cent of the agrichemical companies.

Mr Emerson said plastic waste on farms was a persistent and growing problem for farmers and growers throughout New Zealand.

He was encouraged to see in some regions, like Gisborne, that growers and farmers were rallying together and encouraging their neighbours, colleagues and friends to be part of the programme.

Farmers and growers were also looking for solutions beyond containers including silage wrap, larger drum recovery and the chemicals themselves.

The Chinese government is banning production of the thinnest plastic bags.  This may save may save as much as 37 million barrels of oil currently used to produce the plastic totes.  You can read more about this here.

China Sacks Plastic Bags
Ban could save 37 million barrels of oil and alleviate “white pollution”

Thin plastic bags are used for everything in China and the Chinese use up to three billion of them a day–an environmentally costly habit picked up by shopkeepers and consumers in the late 1980s for convenience over traditional cloth bags. Fruit mongers weigh produce in them, tailors stuff shirts into them, even street food vendors plunk their piping hot wares directly into see-through plastic bags that do nothing to protect one’s hands from being burned or coated in hot grease. They even have a special name for the plastic bags found blowing, hanging and floating everywhere from trees to rivers: bai si wu le, or “white pollution,” for the bags’ most common color.

Yet, the Chinese government is set to ban the manufacture and force shopkeepers to charge for the distribution of bags thinner than .025 millimeters thick as of June 1—and no one seems prepared. “I don’t know what we’ll do,” Zhang Gui Lin, a tailor at Shanghai’s famous fabric market, tells me through a translator. “I guess our shopping complex will figure it out and tell us what to buy to use as bags.”

His wife adds: “Maybe it will be like this,” tugging a thicker mesh orange plastic bag she is using to carry some shoes. Such thicker bags may prove one replacement for the ubiquitous thinner versions.

The clothes makers are not alone. “I don’t know actually,” says a vendor of Chinese tamales, known as zong si, who declined to give her name. “I’m sure the government will come up with a solution. Maybe people will just eat it [the zong si directly.]”

The Chinese government is banning production and distribution of the thinnest plastic bags in a bid to curb the white pollution that is taking over the countryside. The bags are also banned from all forms of public transportation and “scenic locations.” The move may save as much as 37 million barrels of oil currently used to produce the plastic totes, according to China Trade News. Already, the nation’s largest producer of such thin plastic bags, Huaqiang, has shut down its operations.

Thanks to a downturn in the market, more companies are switching from wooden pallets to plastic pallets, along with other materials.  Read more about this here.

Wooden pallets on the way out as staple product of non-profit society

BY CHRIS SHANNON
The Cape Breton Post

By Chris Shannon
Cape Breton Post
NORTH SYDNEY — A lack of a stable market for wooden pallets produced by participants at the Haley Street Adult Services Centre has the non-profit society looking for other ways to generate needed revenue.
There are 13 participants in the woodworking program who make the pallets as well as other wooden products such as picnic tables, surveying stakes and garbage bins. The wood comes from local suppliers.
But the society, which provides life, social and vocational skills training for 62 adults with mental and physical disabilities, has had to deal with a downturn in the industry as more companies switch from wooden pallets to other materials when transporting products.
“The market has changed and they’re shifting more to plastics for the international market . . . which will have a significant impact on our financial situation,” said Debra MacLean, the executive director for the Haley Street Adult Services Centre Society.
Its biggest customer for pallets, auto-parts maker Tesma PFC, is switching to plastic pallets to suit its customers needs. Wooden pallets have often been held up at international border crossings, in customs, or stuck in quarantine, creating a time profit loss for the manufacturer, she said.
“We’re trying to shift the focus to some of the other products we do, which are picnic tables, recycle bins, pressure-treated garbage bins, and we also do a good business with our survey stakes. We have several local businesses which get their survey stakes from us.
“We’ve been so busy with the pallets over the years that we’ve kind of slowed down a little bit on those other things, but now that the market is shifting we’re going to have to put it in high gear promoting the fact that we make other products as well.”
It means fundraising will take up a large portion of the society’s time.
The society is responsible for 25 to 35 per cent of its budget — estimated at between $60,000 and $75,000 annually. The remainder is financed through the Department of Community Services.
Saturday, a dance will be the first large fundraiser of the year. It takes place from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at St. Joseph’s hall in Bras d’Or. Tickets are $10 per person and available at the door or by calling the society, 794-3517.
The door prizes will include a picnic table, recycle bin and garbage bin — all products made by participants at Haley Street.
MacLean said the goal is to raise $2,500 through this first major effort.
“This year we’re probably going to be putting on many fundraisers,” she said.
“It is very difficult balancing fundraising with everyone else’s very full agenda here. So in a perfect world we’d be doing no fundraising, but right now, to keep our head above water, we really have no other choice.”
She said the society is currently waiting on word from the Resource Recovery Fund Board on a potential project involving the recycling of old and broken wooden pallets companies no longer have any use for.
They could potentially be recycled into survey stakes, garbage bins and kindling.

Enviro Pallets, made in Ausralia, are ideal for those needing to ship or store products with that extra few kilos.
You can read more about the specifics of these pallets including the materials that are used to make them here.

JMP (USA) Enviro Pallets are designed as an alternative to standard wooden and plastic pallets.

Standard wooden pallets are often subjected to strict import restrictions and plastic pallets to environmental accusations and high costs.

Made from materials ranging from recycled wood fibres to sugar cane pulp, the JMP (USA) Enviro Pallets, from JMP Australia , are eco-friendly and are in compliance with ISPM 15 Guidelines for wood packaging. No fumigation is required.

This heavy duty pallet is ideal for those needing to ship or store products with that extra few kilos. The JMP (USA) Enviro Pallet is also suited for shipments that need to be double stacked as it has been designed with a flat base.

Size: 1219 x 1016 x 150mm
Weight: 30kg
Dynamic load: 1.5 tonne
Static load: 6 tonne
Entry: 4 way
Pallets per stack: 13

A comprehensive range of intermediate bulk containers is available from Technosearch. You can read about their many features here.

Multicon TD and Multicon Lite intermediate bulk containers from Technosearch

Technosearch  offers a comprehensive range of intermediate containers. Multicon TD intermediate containers manufactured by Technosearch comprise of several features that include folding front drop door, sight glass, galvanised frame construction, polypropylene panels, four way access pallet and possess tare container weight ranging to about 148 kilograms. These intermediate bulk containers have been specifically suitable for storing liquids, food, pharmaceuticals, adhesives as well as paints. Panels present in these intermediate containers can be easily removed for cleaning applications. Multicon SC intermediate bulk containers from Technosearch comprise of several features such as fold back as well as removable front gate, lockable security option, cleats, polypropylene panels in conjunction with galvanised frame construction.

Multicon Lite intermediate bulk containers manufactured by Technosearch can be used for storing frozen meat, food as well as dry products. These containers consist of split lid construction that provides easy accessibility. Multicon Lite intermediate bulk containers from Technosearch have lightweight galvanised construction in conjunction with colorbond panels. Other features include four way access pallets, galvanised corrugated pallet base, tare container weight ranging to about 120 kilograms, lockable security and cleats.

Technosearch provides mobile liquid tilters having safe as well as easy operation. These liquid tillers can be used for discharging products from intermediate bulk containers. Liquid tilters are available in two different models that include manual hand wind up as well as pneumatic tilters.

goplasticpallets.com has manufactured a pool pallet that has become the biggest-selling heavy duty pallet the company has ever supplied. You can read more about this here.

New pool pallet top seller in under a year
More than 10,000 heavy weight pallets introduced by the UK’s fastest growing plastic pallet company, goplasticpallets.com, have been snapped up by UK companies in less than a year. The APB Pool Pallet 1210 (1200×1000mm) has rapidly become the biggest-selling heavy duty pallet the company has ever supplied.
The pallet is part of goplasticpallets.com’s recently-signed agreement with Belgian manufacturer IPS for exclusive UK distribution. The new product was expected to find its market over a three year period, but in just ten months it has became a top seller, despite being at the high value end of the market.

Managing director of goplasticpallets.com, Jim Hardisty, is delighted with the response: “We were confident that our customers would appreciate the benefits of this product. It’s highly durable, hygienic and perfect for tough closed loop environments. We didn’t, however, anticipate that demand would be this high. Fortunately, we always hold large quantities of stock so orders can be fulfilled without delay the following day.”

The APB 1210 Pool Pallet (1200 x 1000mm) is available in a variety of configurations, offering an open or closed deck, in virgin or recycled plastic, with three, five or six runners, and with optional lips.

Although the market for pallets has expanded rapidly, Hardisty puts the success of the launch down to a significant change in attitude. “A few years ago British businesses were cautious about investing. Today, our customers really appreciate the cost benefits of a pallet with a life span of ten to fifteen years. Making an investment has become much less of an issue.”

goplasticpallets.com is the UK fastest growing supplier of plastic pallets in the UK. From its location in Eastbourne on the South Coast, the company provide the widest range of pallets for closed loop operations, ultra hygienic environments, moving goods on to the shop floor, for re-usable packaging and export. Products are sourced from top manufacturers across the world and goplasticpallets.com have recently been appointed as sole agents for leading European pallet manufacturer, IPS.

Find an assortment of closet organization solutions including bins, totes and containers by reading this artcle; click
here.

by Meryl Shana
When you’re using a spare closet for out of the way storage, you need to know your options when it comes to closet storage systems. There are thousands of types of boxes, bins, and shelving out there, and any of them could be right for you.

First, decide whether you’re going for form, function, or a combination of both. If you don’t care about coordinating the look of your storage space, you have a lot more options for types of storage. Plastic tubs, rolling bins, and canvas totes are just some of your choices.

You can find a wide variety of Rubbermaid plastic totes and bins that you can use to enhance your closet storage. You could use little containers normally used for leftover food to store craft items or hardware; you could use giant totes for some of your biggest items, such as cushions from the patio furniture or the holiday decorations.

Place the very largest bins on the floor, underneath wall mounted shelving, and fill the shelves themselves with an array of different sized bins.

A key to good closet storage systems is labeling. Each tub, tote, and bin should be clearly labeled with what is inside it.

You should keep all similar items together, and you should be able to tell at a glance what’s in any box. A label maker gives you an easy way to do this, and you can peel the labels off and change them later if necessary.

Alternatively, a permanent marker is a quick way to label storage, as is taping a piece of paper with the contents to the side (front) of the bin.

Clear or translucent bins are the favorite of most professional organizers, because labeling no longer has to be so detailed with these. When you can see the contents, you’re even more organized, and you save yourself more time.

Rubbermaid has a wide selection of these as well, which you can incorporate into your closet storage systems. Also, remember that you can get specialty storage items for your closet too, specially made for gift wrap, craft items, and other hobby supplies.

Find an assortment of closet organization solutions including bins, totes and containers by reading this:
http://www.my2live.com/home-and-family/how-to-design-your-own-closet-organization-systems

by Meryl Shana
When you’re using a spare closet for out of the way storage, you need to know your options when it comes to closet storage systems. There are thousands of types of boxes, bins, and shelving out there, and any of them could be right for you.

First, decide whether you’re going for form, function, or a combination of both. If you don’t care about coordinating the look of your storage space, you have a lot more options for types of storage. Plastic tubs, rolling bins, and canvas totes are just some of your choices.

You can find a wide variety of Rubbermaid plastic totes and bins that you can use to enhance your closet storage. You could use little containers normally used for leftover food to store craft items or hardware; you could use giant totes for some of your biggest items, such as cushions from the patio furniture or the holiday decorations.

Place the very largest bins on the floor, underneath wall mounted shelving, and fill the shelves themselves with an array of different sized bins.

A key to good closet storage systems is labeling. Each tub, tote, and bin should be clearly labeled with what is inside it.

You should keep all similar items together, and you should be able to tell at a glance what’s in any box. A label maker gives you an easy way to do this, and you can peel the labels off and change them later if necessary.

Alternatively, a permanent marker is a quick way to label storage, as is taping a piece of paper with the contents to the side (front) of the bin.

Clear or translucent bins are the favorite of most professional organizers, because labeling no longer has to be so detailed with these. When you can see the contents, you’re even more organized, and you save yourself more time.

Rubbermaid has a wide selection of these as well, which you can incorporate into your closet storage systems. Also, remember that you can get specialty storage items for your closet too, specially made for gift wrap, craft items, and other hobby supplies.