Sev-Rend rolls out sustainable packaging line

A new line of sustainable produce packaging will be on display by Sev-Rend Corp. at the upcoming Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit in Orlando, FL.

Tony O’Driscoll, Sev-Rend’s vice president of sales and marketing, said Sev-Rend’s customers are being encouraged by their retail customers to provide sustainable products for consumer packaging.

In response, Sev-Rend, based in Collinsville, IL and celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2018, has developed tags, netting, film and pouch bags that are fully recyclable. These polyolefin items are being rolled-out this fall.

“All of these are 100 percent recyclable,” said O’Driscoll. “This is being done to meet the response to the trends we are seeing in the market place.” This direction will apply to the entire produce industry, and not a specific (growing) area or commodity.

“We are trying to spearhead the demands of the industry,” he added. “There is a global interest toward recyclable packaging, and Sev-Rend is meeting the demands we are seeing in the North American market.”

O’Driscoll said that it’s a double-win to close recyclable net packaging with recyclable tags because the entire package can go into consumers’ recycle bins.

Jeff Watkin, Sev-Rend’s graphic and marketing manager, said in that several customers were testing the new Sev-Rend packages on their equipment to assure the same performance as the firm’s original products.

“We’re in the initial stages to get to the rest of the market,” said Watkin. “Several customers are already very active with us.”

O’Driscoll said that retailers are looking at their retail data, which indicate that the consumers feels better when the packaging is sustainable.

Watkin said an advantage of the light-weight Sev-Rend packages is that the weight is very low compared to other recyclable consumer packaging, such as soda cans or bottles for water.

Watkin said a net bag weighs well below 1 percent of the overall filled package weight. A pouch’s contribution to the total weight is two to 10 times more.