Ifco tray


Ifco trays are containers developed in France in 1985 which are primarily used in retail to transport fish, also being used to hold fruit and vegetables.
They are attractive for environmental reasons due to their ease of reuse, their capability of being stacked when full of produce in many different configurations and that they can be flattened when empty for compact return to producers/shippers/growers or for storage purposes.

Controversy

Their adoption has generated controversy between developed countries which are consumers of produce and developing countries which are producers, primarily due to the cost of using the trays as opposed to using locally produced containers. In particular, many developing countries lack the capital-intensive infrastructure to develop and support the hi-technology plastic molding machinery necessary to produce the returnable trays. Analysis continues to compare the relative benefits of reusable trays, which require a full cycle versus one-time-use disposable containers which do not require return to the shipper, but instead are disposed of after one use. Disposable containers create a waste-disposal burden on recipients while the returnable containers burden producers who must purchase containers and arrange for a return cycle...