News

Young's Seafood is looking to slash the carbon footprint of its transport packaging for salmon by replacing traditional single-use polystyrene boxes with the returnable Cool Blue Box.

The Cool Blue Box is made from a specially formulated food-grade polyethylene with an antibacterial additive that can be sterilised and reused "well over 300 times", leading to a 78% reduction in carbon emissions.

The box's lid contains a reservoir of food-safe gel that can be frozen at temperatures of up to -40ºC, while the lack of ice means that more fish can be contained in a single box.

Steve Moore, managing director of Grimsby-based Cool Blue Box, said the box could potentially be used for "any product using polystyrene" for transportation, and there was already "a lot of interest" from the meat markets.

"Suppliers are under a lot of pressure from supermarkets to reduce their carbon footprint," he said.

Moore added that, because the boxes were not thrown out after one use, it was possible to install microchips to improve traceability.

"The Cool Blue Box is very time-efficient as whole pallets of boxes can be read in one go," he added.

The rental scheme is operated by TFA Box Company in Grimsby, which takes care of the sterilisation, throughout the UK and Scandinavia.

Young's estimates that it currently handles more than one million polystyrene boxes a year.