Ocean Mist Goes Waxless With Shipping Cartons

Leading artichoke grower Ocean Mist Farms is moving toward replacing its waxed cartons with a new waxless model that's "encapsulated" in a thin film that makes the cardboard waterproof and fully recyclable.

Having performed side-by-side shipping tests to confirm the new waxless carton maintains the same performance level as its wax-cascaded counterparts during the cooling process and in transit, Castroville, Calif.-based Ocean Mist has determined several benefits as a result of the switch. The fully recyclable cartons can be placed by end-users in traditional corrugated container bales, which thus minimizes the amount of paper that goes into a landfill and in turn increases grocers' recycling revenue.

As a result of their recyclability/repulpability, Ocean Mist's new waxless cartons have also been approved and certified by the Fiber Box Association (FBA) and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI).

Concurrent with this development and on the heels of the January 2009 transition of Ocean Mist's entire celery crop into waxless cartons, the company is concurrentlydeveloping plans to transition other commodities as well.

"It is in everyone's interest to focus on sustainability," said Joe Pezzini, Ocean Mist's COO. "As farmers, we are the ultimate stewards of the land; we are committed to preserving the land for future generations.”

For more information, visit www.oceanmist.com.