Trays & Bowls
Sonoco partners with many of the world's largest food brands in the consumer packaged goods and food service industries to provide plastic trays and bowls for frozen and ready meals.
Our Plastic Food Packaging
Polypropylene
Applicable for the frozen and chilled prepared meals market and the food service industry.
- 0 to 260 degrees F, ideal for microwave only applications
- Design-Peel Technology for a customized seal for your product requirements
- Form, fill and seal
CPET
Applicable for frozen meals, chilled prepared meals, case-ready meat trays, bakery products and the food service industry
- Dual-ovenable, -40 to 400 degrees F, freezer to microwave or oven
- Custom capabilities or stock options
- Industry's best frozen temperature breakage performance
- Industry leading RePET trays with up to 40% PCR
- Multiple colors and compartment options, including three compartment trays
- Flat bed and propriety rotary thermoforming processes
Enhancing Recyclability
Objective: Nestlé wants to make all its packaging 100% recyclable or reusable by 2025. The challenge was the black plastic trays used for Stouffers’ frozen entrees were not being detected by NIR sorting technology, and so they were not being sorted properly for recycling.
Solution: In collaboration with Sonoco, Nestlé developed a new, unpigmented "Natural Tray" for its frozen trays. This tray is detectable by NIR technology, contains 30% recycled PET material, and is more likely to be accepted by material recovery facilities (MRFs).
Benefits: The transition to the Natural Tray eliminates the use of 80,000 pounds of colorant annually and increases the plastic tray's recyclability, supporting Nestlé's vision of preventing its packaging from ending up in landfills or as litter. The trays are made with 30% recycled plastic, and removing the black pigment increases their recyclability in the U.S.
Versatile Plastic Packaging
As a market-leading plastic packaging manufacturer, Sonoco offers multiple processing platforms including: flat bed, rotary, melt-to-mold, in-line, batch and extrusion.
Sonoco also offers versatility with alternative material options including Polypropylene, CPET, RePET, HIPS, HDPE and APET.
Take your concept to market faster.
From concept to commercialization, Sonoco understands the importance of speed-to-market for rigid plastic packaging. This understanding is reflected in our complete spectrum of existing designs and sizes and our ability to quickly create custom plastic packaging tailored to your precise requirements.
