Packaging: Farm saves costs and labor with reusable totes

Full Belly Farm, a certified organic farm in California, grows vegetables, fruits, nuts, flowers and eggs. In mid-2013, the company replaced 8,330 waxed cardboard boxes with 2,000 reusable plastic totes. As a result, the farm saved more than $14,000 annually in packaging costs and reduced labor costs.

For years, the grower used waxed cardboard boxes for produce distribution. The boxes could be reused four or five times, but wax rendered the boxes non-recyclable and non-compostable. A suitable alternative needed to withstand exposure to summer sun, winter rain, temperatures between 40°F and 120°F and shipping distances of 150 miles.

The farm purchased 2,000 reusable totes with ventilation holes and attached lids, each measuring 19.9 x 11.6 x 7.5 inches. Employees pick and wash the produce, and then pack a combination of items in the totes. The totes are stacked onto pallets and then stored for a few hours in a cooler, or loaded directly onto a truck for delivery. Members bring reusable bags to the drop-off sites to collect their produce, and the totes are returned to the farm.

By switching to reusables, the farm is saving $14,161 per year in waxed cardboard box purchases. The farm also saw labor savings since boxes had to be formed and stacked every morning, and lined with paper that required an additional person on the filling line. The new totes are ready to use without assembly. Switching from waxed cardboard boxes to reusable totes also eliminates 6.54 tons of cardboard waste and reduces greenhouse gas emission by 34.1 tons.

“These savings will continue every year, as long as the boxes last, and we expect that will be 10 or 15 years at least,” says Judith Redmond, co-owner of Full Belly Farm. “Also, the price of cardboard boxes continues to go up. So our totes will become more and more valuable over time. The total dollar savings will be at least 10 times the number that we save in one year.”

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