Creative package makes bees do all the work

A pair of innovative thinkers from southwestern Ontario have created a breakthrough package for comb honey that meets production, distribution and retail needs with one small container. The beauty of the Bee-O-Pac is that the bees build the honey comb right in the retail container. When the bees are finished their job, the beekeeper simply removes the sixteen-cavity tray, separates the cavities along the perforations and snaps on a lid. From raw materials to shelf-ready in one container.
Bee-O-Pac is the brainchild of Ian Bigham and Andrew Sperlich. Each sixteen-cavity tray is sized to replace a traditional wood frame. Multiple frames are hung in the square wooden boxes, called supers, in which domestic bees build their honey combs. The Bee-O-Pac trays are thermoformed of food-grade PET, with perforations around each cavity for later removal.
The trays are produced by Shepherd Thermoforming & Packaging Inc. (Brampton, ON). Bigham says they are somewhat challenging to produce because die-cuts have to be performed at two different heights.
The initial commercial production run for Bee-O-Pacs was completed in May. About 80% of the 25,000 were sold, which represents about 2-3% of the beekeeper market, according to Bigham.