Food Service Packaging Materials

Ever wonder what goes into the dinnerware that you serve your food on? How about the foam containers your takeout gets sent home in? It's important to many restaurants, delis and other food service businesses to be aware of what materials they are sending out the door with their food.

At Genpak we understand this, and provide detailed information on the materials used to engineer our quality food containers and packaging.

Compostable and biodegradable products are becoming more and more popular in every industry, and the food container and packaging industry is no exception. That's why we are proud to offer a variety of Harvest^® lines for your food serving needs. There are cups from materials harvested from managed forests; microwave safe containers manufactured from renewable resources. Most of your food container and packaging needs can be met just with our environmentally preferable products. Learn more about these materials here.

If you have any questions on any of the materials used in our products, please call us at 800-626-6695 or send us a note. We look forward to partnering with you for all your foam, plastic and other food packaging and container needs.

Polystyrene - Foamed

Probably the most versatile of substrates, foamed polystyrene may be made into a multitude of shapes and configurations. It has excellent insulation properties and decent thermal resistance making it applicable for both hot and cold foods. Hot foods will stay hot longer and cold foods will stay cold longer in a foamed PS container. Foamed polystyrene also takes very little energy to produce compared to other substrates and consumes virtually no water during production. It is also extremely light weight compared to nearly every other material which means it uses far less raw materials. As with many food packaging items, very few facilities exists for recycling, but recently there has been a surge in centers collecting this material. Check with your local municipality to see if a site exists near you.

PET - Polyethylene Terephthalate

PET is a solid plastic material most often used to produce water and soda bottles. APET is a crystal clear material and is an excellent choice when displaying food items. APET may also be used in cold and frozen applications as well and will hold up in automated fill/seal process lines. APET is #1 recyclable material.

Polypropylene

When microwave safe options are required for food packaging, polypropylene is the best choice of materials.

Harvest Paper

Our paper cone, portion and drink cups are produced from raw materials originating from forests managed with Sustainable Forestry Practices and are all industrial compostable. All of our Harvest Paper product configurations are engineered for maximum strength and durability utilizing box pleats, concave surface areas and rolled rims.

Harvest Fiber

Genpak Harvest Fiber material is manufactured from renewable resources. The base fiber material for all of our products is bagasse, which is a byproduct of the sugar industry. Harvest Fiber products are microwave safe and grease & water resistant. Each item is engineered with ease of use in mind.

Foamed Polystyrene Facts

Foam packaging is 98% air! Polystyrene feedstock is converted into a finished product that is 32 times its original volume virtually turning air into a strong and efficient packaging material. Polystyrene is an efficient material to manufacture using minimal resources to produce a finished product.