Aug. 25, 2008 - ConAgra Foods has tapped Associated Packaging Technologies (APT) to develop recycled PET frozen food trays for its Healthy Choice, Banquet, Kid Cuisine, and Marie Callender's brands.

The trays will use between 30% and 40% post-consumer recycled plastic for an annual savings of 8 million pounds of plastic (or 128 million 20-ounce plastic bottles) each year, according to ConAgra.

APT is applying a new process that cleans recycled plastic for use as a component in frozen food trays. (Older technologies limited food companies to using only new plastic in compliance with regulations for direct food contact materials.) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has already approved the new trays as direct food contact materials.

"The beauty of the new recycled PET trays is that they meet the same performance specs as our trays made from virgin crystallized PET plastic," says John L. Giordani, APT's vice president of sales. "The environmental impact incentive comes without tradeoffs for our customers."

The recycled PET trays pay other dividends as well. They require less energy and resources to produce than virgin PET trays saving an 236 million BTUs of energy and 15,200 tons of CO2 annually, according to APT.

APT says it plans to expand its use of recycled PET trays to other product lines. All of APT's plants are currently equipped to produce the new recycled PET trays, Giordani says.