The EPS Group of the British Plastics Federation has launched a new video to highlight the vital yet under-acknowledged role played by the expanded polystyrene fish box in protecting the 657,000 tonnes of fish landed at UK ports and fish farms every year.
The BPF EPS Group set out to capture in just five minutes a 24-hour period in the life of a few of the 22 million fish boxes that keep UK fish and seafood free from damage and safe from high temperatures every year.
Film crews worked through the night to record the landing of the day’s catch, the journey through the processing house and the onward transit to the UK’s major fish markets, even visiting a top fish restaurant to catch the arrival of a fish box in the professional kitchen.
“Expanded polystyrene fish boxes may not be everyone’s choice for a lead role in the movies,” says David Emes, chairman of the British Plastics Federation EPS Group.
“But the six big UK producers of the coolest container in the fish industry thought it was about time the humble white box was given a chance to take the spotlight.”
Emes describes the EPS fish box as: “The perfect packaging, because it offers thermal protection as well as impact resistance, light weight and low resource usage.”
He adds: “It’s 98% air, stackable, easily sealed and can readily be given a second life at the end of its conventional use.”
With year-on-year production growing by more than 10% – and the UK’s weekly fish consumption predicted to grow from 8 million kg last year to 9.23 million kg by 2030 (Sainsbury’s/ The Future Foundation 2012) – the EPS Group decided to “expose the secret life of the polystyrene fish box”.
The film includes scenes shot at dawn at London’s Billingsgate market, where fish merchants lead the way in ensuring that all the fish boxes left over at the end of the day are compacted for recycling.
The film can be viewed at: www.fishboxes.info
