Bubbly Breakthrough: New Plastic Food Tray Loses the WeightBubbly Breakthrough: New Plastic Food Tray Loses the Weight
The flexible packaging experts at ProAmpac pivot to launch a lightweight foam polypropylene food tray that’s curbside recyclable.
July 17, 2024

Flexible packaging innovator ProAmpac has done something unexpected: it has introduced a totally new kind of rigid plastic packaging.
But as with its lengthy and more familiar track record in flexible packaging, the company also brings groundbreaking innovation to the rigid food packaging table: a patent-pending polypropylene-based tray.
The new ProActive Recyclable Fresh Tray FT-1000 tray introduces foodservice and grocery customers to an easily recyclable, lightweight tray. It’s classified as plastic #5 and is approved for curbside recycling.
The “secret sauce” is air, which when used during molding turns it into a foam PP tray. In fact, it’s 90% air, according to Maryam Dini, technical specialist at ProAmpac. That makes a dramatic difference with less polymer and other benefits, too.
"ProActive Recyclable Fresh Tray FT-1000 offers grocery and food retail markets a robust, sustainable packaging solution that aligns seamlessly with their operational needs," says Pascal Labrie, vice president/general manager, Dyne-a-Pak division of ProAmpac. "By adopting the FT-1000, these sectors can meet their sustainability goals without compromising performance or customer satisfaction. This tray is a significant step forward in our commitment to supporting the food industry's environmental initiatives and advancing recyclable packaging choices."

PROAMPAC
The durable foam tray’s attributes include “robust impact resistance and outstanding stiffness,” according to ProAmpac. It also boasts excellent water and grease resistance, ensuring optimum shelf appearance and product freshness.
Appropriate foodservice and grocery market possibilities include meat, seafood, dairy, and produce.
Asked about tray sizes, Labrie responds, “The [foam tray] is available in a few standard sizes, and we are working to expand it to other sizes in the near future.”
Foam PP tray’s rigid packaging origins.
We asked Labrie about this seeming divergence from ProAmpac’s core competency.
“In 2020, ProAmpac acquired Dyne-A-Pak, expanding its manufacturing capabilities and broadening the product offering it provides to retail, grocery, and quick-serve restaurant customers,” he explains. “While ProAmpac focuses primarily on flexible packaging, acquiring and expanding our capabilities and formats to support our key customers and markets is always a priority. We will continue to do so through product innovation and acquisitions.”
According to the ProAmpac website, Dyne-A-Pak's specializes in foam polystyrene trays aka expanded polystyrene trays. Obviously, this division of ProAmpac also pivoted by adopting a new, more commonly recycled polymer to foam technology.
The foam PP tray is effectively a drop-in replacement and has been successfully tested on wrapping machines.
“Without compromising performance, ProActive Recyclable Fresh Tray FT-1000 maintains line speed on wrapping equipment, matching the efficiency of traditional rigid trays,” Dini says. And because it's made with up to 90% air, "it significantly reduces material footprint, making this innovative technology a more sustainable alternative.”
You can read more news about ProAmpac at PlasticsToday.
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