Clearly Clean expands plastic food tray production

Clearly Clean Products LLC has announced it will open a new manufacturing Plant in Frackville, Pennsylvania, which is about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

The Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania-based company refers to itself as a recyclable food tray manufacturer, with its product line including what it calls 100 percent recyclable roll over-wrap trays, vacuum-sealed packaging (VSP) trays and recyclable modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) trays. The food trays can be used for meat, poultry, seafood, produce and deli products and can be customized in terms of size, shape and color.

In Frackville, Clearly Clean intends to purchase and renovate 80,000 square feet of manufacturing space to install a thermoforming plant. The project will initially create approximately 25 new jobs, and that number could grow to more than 125 as the company further expands its line operations and builds out its tooling, says the firm.

Clearly Clean says its “crystal clear” food trays are recyclable in part because of a peelable barrier layer that provides a “sustainable alternative.”

Numerous city and county bans on polystyrene foamed plastics, combined with consumer pressure and corporate commitment, “are fueling the demand for eco-friendly packaging and accelerating the sustainability timelines of many organizations,” says Clearly Clean.  It says its PET (polyethylene terephthalate) trays offer a recyclable, smooth-edged tray option to grocery stores, food processors and packaging distributors.

“We are excited that companies are realizing the benefits of Clearly Clean’s patented smooth-edged, recyclable trays, which are three times the strength of polystyrene, are environmentally friendly, and help mitigate leakers,” says Millard Wallace, a managing partner at Clearly Clean.  “We are also excited that this strong demand allows us to bring additional economic opportunities to Schuylkill County [in Pennsylvania0.  Clearly Clean is rapidly expanding and has been hiring for practically every position, from lawyers to engineers and production line workers.”

Clearly Clean says that over the past 12 months it has added multiple big-name clients and grown by 550 percent, and is poised to grow at an even faster pace in 2019.

“Clearly Clean needed a large facility that would accommodate our additional assets and personnel,” says Jeff Maguire, a managing partner at Clearly Clean. “We decided on Frackville so that we were in the vicinity of our Orwigsburg plant -- yet able to recruit from a broader geographic region.”