Although plastic clamshell containers taste awful, they make the best food packaging supplies. Due to the resemblance to their ocean-dwelling namesakes, these containers are known as clamshells.
These containers are mostly used for food packaging due to their storage capacity. They can be found in supermarkets, food marts, and restaurants that offer food takeaway.
Clamshell containers are a type of carded packaging. It means that these containers may contain more than two types of packaging materials. These materials include backers, which are usually made of plastic or paperboard, and front-facing materials, which are generally made of plastic.
In this article, we will discuss food packaging using clamshell containers.
What are clamshell containers?
These containers are a type of carded packaging. They mostly come in plastic, but they may also consist of Styrofoam, paperboard, recycled paper, or cardboard. These containers are usually made of two identical shells. Both these shells are connected at one side, and the other three sides have tabs to allow the sealing of these containers after you put the food products inside.
Packaging applications in which clamshells are used
These containers are mostly used in the food packaging industry. Food that you can pack in these containers may include cookies, bread, sandwiches, burgers, salads, and many other frozen and fresh foods.
You may find these containers in a lot of retail settings. These are mostly used to sell foods in markets and through food stands. However, these containers are also becoming popular for the packaging of foods to be sold at trucks and catering services. Aside from food packaging, these containers are also used to pack items available at hardware stores.
Pros and cons of clamshell containers
You may want to know whether or not using clamshell containers can benefit your product packaging applications. That is why we will discuss a list of the pros and cons of using clamshell containers for product packaging.
Here are the benefits of using clamshell containers.
- Economical
- Lightweight
- Re-sealable
- Easy to source
Some pitfalls of using clamshell containers are the following.
- Not a great option to store liquids
- Not easily recyclable
Are these containers right for you?
You may want to know if these containers are right for your product packaging applications. You may need to find answers to the following questions here.
- Are you packaging foods? If you are finding a packaging solution for your food products, clamshell may be the most viable option to consider. You can pack a lot of frozen and fresh foods in these containers.
- Are you packing liquids? If you are packaging beverages or other liquids, these containers will not prove to be the right fit.
- Are you packaging luxury items? If you packaging luxury products, you will not find these containers an ideal packaging option.
- Do you want to keep the packaging costs lower? If yes, you can use these containers for your packaging needs.
If you want to know more about packaging using clamshell containers, your best bet is to contact your packaging supplier. They will give you a nice piece of advice on whether or not you should use these containers.
