Polar Egg gets new carton
Company switches from Styrofoam with new supplier
Karen K. Ho
Northern News Services
Monday, September 21, 2015
HAY RIVER
After three years in business, Hay River egg producer Polar Egg has finally acquired a fibre egg carton supplier.
After three years in business, Hay River egg producer Polar Egg has finally acquired a fibre egg carton supplier. The company's will switch from Styrofoam to the kind of cartons shown above. - |
Marketing and sales director Kevin Wallington said potential customers told him they had been waiting for the company to switch from non-recyclable Styrofoam for nearly two years.
"A lot of people have been holding out supporting us," he said. "This has been a three-year, two continent, 30,000-kilometre trip. It's been a lot of work, a lot more than I anticipated."
Wallington said he was told a fire at another fibre carton supplier in the United States a few years ago set much of the industry back in terms of being able to accept new customers.
"It's really hard to get into the pipeline," he said. "And we're so small. We only take a truckload for the year."
Bill Swanson of Hartmann Cartons based in Gig Harbor, Washington, is Polar Egg's new carton supplier.
Wallington said that the major challenge with the new fibre cartons is transportation - both the costs and logistics.
"These came from Brantford, Ont.," he said, estimating the cost was $14,000 and delivery time was approximately three days. "But it's worth it in the end, even though it's costing us more."
By comparison, Polar Egg's Styrofoam carton supplier had bases in Vancouver and Edmonton.
"We'd be able to get them within four to six weeks of placing our order," he said. "They just didn't have access to fibre."
When it comes to storing the new fibre cartons, Wallington said he's using 53-foot transport truck trailers that are "chock full", from floor to ceiling with six, 12 and 18-egg cartons. Wallington said the six-egg fibre cartons actually came from Mexico.
According to Wallington, Polar Egg wants to eventually raise its production output to the point where they can offer lower prices.
"We continue to be challenged by competing with these large companies," he said. "But I think that our (prices) are well on par with them."
Following the official launch on Sept. 15, the new cartons should already be on its way to grocery stores in Fort Smith, Hay River and Yellowknife.
