The study was conducted by Willard Bishop Consulting.
On average, retailers surveyed predicted their use of the CCF would increase from 20% of total case volume to 25% over 18 months. Over the same time period, these retailers expected to use fewer returnable plastic containers (RPCs), from 8% to 5.6%. Overall, traditional corrugated accounts for the majority of the produce containers used by these grocers; together with CCF containers, corrugated accounts for 92% of produce case volume.
The same study also surveyed foodservice distributors that collectively handle 51% of all produce distributed to foodservice accounts in the U.S. These respondents unanimously stated that RPCs are not currently used within their supply chains, and predicted no conversion to them in the next few years, primarily because of the added burdens of container return and storage. —AO
