Pacific AgPak, a packaging company that provides clamshells and other packaging materials and related services to the strawberry industry, has several new “packaging strategies” that the company has either introduced recently or will soon launch, according to President Dave Baum.

One of these is a high cube packaging program, designed to increase the amount of fruit that can be loaded on a truck per cubic foot of trailer space by 33 percent.

Sales Associate Kyle Baum next to one of Pacific AgPak’s clamshell-forming machines. (Photo courtesy of Pacific AgPak)In light of the “ever-changing evolution of fuel savings and cube utilization,” he said, “we are looking at developing some clamshells that cube out at higher volumes per pallet. I think once retailers recognize the potential savings on their side, and growers recognize the potential savings on their side, being able to ship more in a truck is going to come to fruition. It is something we have got to keep working on.”

In addition to a high cube packaging program, he said, “we are also focusing on some new packaging that is going t help cooling efficiencies,” giving shippers the ability to cool down berries “at a quicker rate, which will equate to quicker turn-arounds loading out trucks and less waiting time for customers to receive their product onto the truck.

“That is something we are in development on,” he said. “It is going to be a patented item we are coming out with that … doesn’t exist at this point. I haven’t seen anybody else with this type of design, and we are excited to see test results “ once the tests on the product “get rolling, which should be within the next few days.”

Baum said March 10 that Pacific AgPak could be “rolling out on those” within the next 90 days, once the testing has been done and the customer has approved the product.

Additionally, Pacific AgPak will soon be “entering into the carton business,” he said. “We are going to be doing some strawberry carton make-up here at our facility in Watsonville, and that should complement our clamshell program that we have now, so the growers can come in and pick up their boxes and clamshells all at one locations.”

The cartons, like the company’s clamshells, will be made using recycled materials.

Pacific AgPak uses recycled PET in the manufacture of its clamshells, using the company’s own custom molds.. “We have a program that is earth friendly. Everything is recyclable,” he said.

“We have looked in the past at some compostable product lines” for the clamshells, “but we came to the realization that recycling, in our opinion, is better than composting.” It uses fewer natural resources than “when you have to develop a package from start to finish.” With PET and RPET, “you can recycle that many times.”

Some strawberry shippers are in need of a specific type of Costco-approved packaging, Baum noted. “We are working with Peninsula Packaging,” which has a line of Costco-approved packaging. Pacific AgPak is stocking some of the unlabeled Peninsula products “to facilitate any small growers that might need that type of packaging” so “they don’t have to be delayed [in] getting deliveries.”