Returnable Transit Packaging for Christmas Food Deliveries

Christmas in Retail and Food Processing Industries

Plans for Christmas in certain retail sectors started in January and now there's Only 4 months to go!

I can’t believe that we have reached August bank holiday weekend already!  Summer has been and gone (was it ever here???) and before we know it the shops will be full of Christmas merchandise!

I know, I said the dreaded ‘C’ word, in August. Personally I love Christmas and I bought my first Christmas presents in January. I love all the build-up, the excitement on children’s faces and most of all the food!

Sometimes as consumers we don’t realise all the time and work that goes into making sure that all the edible Christmas delights arrive on our supermarket shelves ready for the festive period.  Since working closely with the food processing industry supplying them with various types of returnable transit packaging including plastic trays, crates and pallets alongside providing hygienic equipment washing I have begun to realise the lengthy process Christmas entails. They need to make sure that we have enough mince pies, turkey and of course brussel sprouts to fill our plates and at PPS we have to provide the food processers with enough plastic pallets, trays and crates to store their important produce in.

Christmas preparation in the food production industry starts as early as January but at PPS we notice a big increase in our tray rental in the summer months.  As soon as the sun comes out all the seasonal tray hire enquiries come in.  Luckily at PPS we have over 10 years of experience in the supply of returnable transit packaging and we have become accustomed to industry trends making us well prepared for the seasonal spikes.  We always ensure that we have a large rental pool of equipment ready for our customers including plastic pallets, trays, crates and returnable fish boxes.

I know some of you will be reading this and think I’ve gone mad talking about Christmas but everyone in food processing and retail will have started thinking about Christmas months ago to make sure we have everything we could possible want during the Christmas period.

Contact us for more information about seasonal rental.



PPS Midlands Limited and PPS East Limited are returnable transit packaging specialists. Contact us with regards to reusable equipment services including pallet pooling, crate rental, tray rental, tray washing, plastic pallet washing, reusable fish boxes, pallet boxes and returnable transit equipment repairs

Reusable Pallet Boxes in Demand

Reusable Plastic Pallet Boxes a Winner with the Supply Chain

Increasing Demand for PPS Range of Reusable Plastic Pallet Boxes.

PPS have experienced an increase in demand over the past months for the rental, sale and washing of pallet boxes at both their Midlands and Grimsby facilities.

collapsible pallet boxes

The reusable pallet box is proving to be an increasingly flexible solution for the transportation and storage of goods for a variety applications and industrial sectors. Pallet boxes can be rigid or collapsible and where necessary an insulated double skin pallet box can be supplied where insulation and/or strength are key requirements.

PPS offers for sale both new and used pallet boxes and Dolavs. We also offer pallet box rental solutions for both ad hoc and long term rentals. In addition at both our sites in Grimsby and Measham where we have state of the art pallet box washing facilities for our own pool of plastic pallet boxes we also offer this wash service to customers that require a pallet box washing or a Dolav washing service for their own equipment fleet.

To highlight the versatility of our range of plastic pallet boxes we have detailed below some of the current applications:

•    A fleet of 2,000 collapsible pallet boxes are currently on hire to a supplier to the National Health Service to facilitate an equipment move between hospitals in different locations throughout the UK. The collapsible pallet box proved to be the most cost effective solution due the distances involved and the need to keep transport costs to a minimum.
•    We currently provide our full service reusable pallet box solution (rigid pallet box rental, pallet box washing & transport) to a food processor for the transportation of fish by-products for processing into fish meal prior to forwarding to the Far East.
•    We have been providing a pallet box rental and pallet box washing service to a food processor for a pool of rigid pallet boxes for use within their manufacturing facility that are used for the storage of oils and breadcrumbs within their value added process.

The recycling industry is another sector where PPS is receiving increasing enquiries for the rental and purchase of reusable pallet boxes. DEFRA statistics highlight that the UK generates approximately 300 million tonnes of waste each year. There is an increasing legal requirement being place on both manufacturers and users of products and packaging to ensure that a proportion of the materials is recovered and recycled.

The PPS range of reusable pallet boxes are particularly suited to pallet box loops set up to facilitate the recycling process and are suitable for a range of recovery operations including batteries, glass, paper, food waste, oils and fats.

Our plastic pallet boxes come in a variety of sizes and specifications, are durable and can withstand cleaning temperatures up to 100 degrees C. Our products are available in virgin and recycled food grade approved HDPE in both solid and perforated plastic pallet boxes. PPS can put in place a range of long term and short term packages to meet all customers’ needs including pallet box rental, pallet box washing and transportation if required.

Food Manufacturers - How to reduce waste packaging & improve supply chains

Food Manufacturers see huge benefits in
using returnable transit packaging

PPS would like to offer food manufacturers the opportunity to improve their inbound supply chains.

We are looking for like-minded businesses that wish to reduce their waste packaging material, or are looking to improve efficiencies within the handling of packaging materials from suppliers.

PPS can offer many ways for all food producers to:

1.    Streamline and make the handling of supplies easier
2.    Reduce the levels of waste created by single use packaging (Outer Cartons)
3.    Cut out time wasting practices at the back door by simplifying the handling of packaging materials
4.    Reduce the need to sort through multiple types of RTP
5.    Single source RTP Packaging for all inbound deliveries

Returnable Transit Packaging (RTP) comes in many forms, standard sized plastic crates/boxes, plastic pallets, attached lid containers/Tote Boxes and 1000L IBC units for bulk powders and liquids, at PPS we are pleased to be able to offer a solution no matter what the product is.

Our expertise in managing Pools of specialised equipment means you don’t have too use valuable cash flow to fund simple operations.

We have over 10 years experience within the meat industry and 20 years experience within the fresh fish industry, which has been quick to accept the benefits of using a reusable box for the transportation of a valuable commodity.

Reducing costs within business can sometimes be difficult to achieve, however PPS are not only able to reduce costs within your supply chain, we are also able to offer an additional revenue stream in the process, please see our example below.

Raw materials supplier “A” uses 150,000 cardboard boxes pa at a cost of £0.45 per box, £67,500.00 pa total spend

Supplier “B” uses 150,000 trips using PPS RTP at a cost of £0.35 per trip (Inclusive), £52,500.00

By converting Supplier “A” to RTP it generates a saving of £15,000 pa for the supplier for which a percentage could be claimed back by the buyer for helping too reduce the supply chain costs for the operation.

Create additional revenue streams by converting your suppliers to PPS RTP!

Incentives for supplier conversion

Studies completed by WRAP confirm that there are all round benefits associated with using RTP, against the more traditional method of Cardboard and shrink wrap, please visit www.wrap.org.uk for further details of the complete report.


PPS Midlands Limited and PPS East Limited are returnable transit packaging specialists. If you are interested in reducing your costs, waste and environmental footprint, then you should contact us with regards to reusable equipment and pallet pooling, plastic crates, plastic pallet boxes, container rental and supply, product repairs and equipment washing.

Plastic Fish Boxes for Sale

Used Plastic Returnable Fish Boxes For Quick Sale!

PPS East have surplus stock of second-hand 25kg & 50kg plastic fish boxes which are now up for sale at very low prices.

25kg Boxes & Lids

Cool Blue 25kg Boxes & Lids

These 25kg light blue reusable boxes are a great protective packaging, and have smooth internal edges to prevent product damage. The boxes are made from food-grade polypropylene plastic so would be suitable for any business supplying edible material. They nest when empty and stack when the lids are used, which is a great space saving benefit. All boxes have 4 drain holes in the base, for melted ice dispersion. ‘Gel-packs’ have been built into the lids, which can be frozen down to -20C and when placed onto the box base work as a coolant to keep product chilled. Example of box use could be for a supply chain loop between factories, internally in production areas, in chilled rooms to store product or even to deliver food stuff to customers.

They have been previously used for whole fish, salmon and fish fillets.
Approx. External Dimensions 800 x 400 x 300mm

Box Clever 50kg Stacker Tubs

These stack only ‘Box Clever’ returnable fish boxes were designed for a wide range of applications at sea and on shore. From catching and processing to trading fish, they meet all technical and hygienic requirements. These boxes create a clever integrated handling system, and can contain up to 50kg of product.  Also made from blue food grade polypropylene these boxes will be great for fish merchants, butchers or any food production business which needs heavy duty and hardwearing plastic boxes. These boxes do not have lids.

Approx. External Dimensions 813 x 483 x 220mm

If you are interested in purchasing boxes, please call 01472 245554 for prices and more information. High volume orders will receive discounted rates.

PPS Midlands at Measham and PPS East at Grimsby are Returnable Transit Equipment Suppliers and offer a wide range of products including fish boxes. Click here to see our wide range of fish boxes for hire or sale.

Reusable Packaging Benefits

Reusable Packaging - Why use it over Single Packaging

Plastic pallets - Returnable Transit Equipmen that can be
used over and over again

Lead­ing com­pa­nies in a wide vari­ety of indus­tries across the globe imple­ment reusable pack­ag­ing for the eco­nomic, social and envi­ron­men­tal value that re-use pro­vides across the entire sup­ply chain. Reusable pal­lets, hand-held con­tain­ers, bulk con­tain­ers, dun­nage and other trans­port pack­ag­ing items are used for the effi­cient stor­age, han­dling and dis­tri­b­u­tion of prod­ucts through­out the sup­ply chain.

Reusable pack­ag­ing prod­ucts are generally man­u­fac­tured in plas­tic, which is a durable mate­r­ial and is specif­i­cally designed for mul­ti­ple trips and extended life. These prod­ucts typ­i­cally replace single-use trans­port pack­ag­ing such as wood, polystyrene and cardboard boxes and are ideal for closed loop or well man­aged open-loop sys­tems. Due to their reusable nature, they can offer a rapid return on invest­ment and a lower cost-per-trip than single-use pack­ag­ing products.

“Com­pa­nies that have made the switch to reusable pack­ag­ing expe­ri­ence lower ship­ping and labour costs, bet­ter prod­uct pro­tec­tion, more pro­duc­tive flow of goods through dis­tri­b­u­tion chan­nels, plus bet­ter ergonom­ics and improved worker safety. These com­pa­nies have also reduced their waste man­age­ment costs and pos­i­tively impacted the envi­ron­ment by gen­er­at­ing less waste and reduc­ing the need to build expen­sive dis­posal facil­i­ties or more land­fill sites. Disposable wood pallets, polystyrene and cardboard boxes comprise a significant amount of the waste generated by businesses in Europe and there is limited landfill space left, plus it is becoming more and more expensive to get rid of waste of this nature.

PPS Total Equipment Solutions allows our customers to outsource the management and supply of their returnable transit equipment. This lets them focus on their core business, providing a more efficient supply chain as well as cost savings. Whatever your requirement we can offer a range of options that we will tailor to your individual needs.

Returnable Transit Equipment Includes:

• Plastic trays, crates & boxes
• Attached lid containers or tote boxes
• Collapsible pallet boxes
• Plastic pallets
• Rigid pallet boxes
• Fish boxes

PPS Midlands at Measham and PPS East at Grimsby are BRC approved and are equipped with modern state-of-the-art wash equipment capable of tray washing, box washing and pallet washing to hygienic standards. As well as washing our own equipment PPS offers contract wash services for washing third parties equipment on medium or long term contracts as well as on an ad-hoc basis. Please contact us through our web site or telephone 01530 515333.