At the end of 2007 Foodvest (formerly Young’s Seafood) began using a new form of packaging for its salmon which is estimated to reduce carbon emissions by around 78%.
The company has historically received fresh salmon from suppliers in polystyrene boxes – handling around 1 million boxes each year. Now the company is piloting a 'green' alternative - called Cool Blue Box.
The Cool Blue Box is made from lightweight food grade polypropylene that can be sterilised at high temperature and so repeatedly re-used. It is cooled by a reservoir of food-safe gel in the lid which can be refrozen to at least -40°C. Because the method requires very little ice, there is room for more salmon in each box – which in turn means that up to 4t of extra fish can be transported in each 40ft lorry. Once emptied, the boxes are collected and returned to a local washing facility for sterilisation before re-use.
The business has now received over 1,500mt of product in the Cool Blue box system. All product to Grimsby, Inverness and Livingston is delivered in the system currently, with Fraserburgh also expected to come on board shortly. A number of Foodvest suppliers are also using Cool Blue in both Scotland and Norway.
Foodvest says that the Cool Blue Box is providing a hygienic and trouble free solution and has reduced reliance on the EPS box.
