Compostable Chilled Tray Compound (Thermoforming, FDA)

About This Product

This is a compostable compound for chilled and cold food trays, supplied as a raw material for sheet extrusion and thermoforming and supplied FDA compliant for food contact. Thermoforming is a two-stage route: the compound is first extruded into flat sheet, then reheated until it softens and drawn into a mould, so every part of the finished tray is made from material stretched out of that original sheet.

Thermoformed trays fail where the draw ratio is highest, usually a corner: that is the material that has travelled furthest out of the flat sheet, it thins there, and the tray has a weak point that a filling line will find. What decides whether the thinning stays local is how the softened sheet responds to being stretched. A melt whose resistance rises as it is extended will not keep thinning in the same place, because the stress is handed on to material that has not yet drawn and the wall self-levels; a melt without that behaviour keeps thinning where it first started, and the thin spot runs away. Even draw is therefore the property that matters, and this compound is formulated for a controlled, uniform draw across the tray, giving consistent wall thickness rather than thin corners. It is supplied FDA compliant for food contact, for cold and chilled use. For hot fill or reheating, use the heat-resistant tray compound. Supplied as a raw material for processing on the buyer's own line; we do not produce finished articles.

It is used in chilled food trays, ready meal packaging, protein and produce trays and food retail.

Bio Green Foods supplies the compostable chilled tray compound to specification on sheet gauge, draw behaviour, service temperature and food-contact documentation.