Creative Package Makes Bees Do All the Work
Canadian Plastics
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...
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.
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 domesticated bees build their honey combs. The Bee-O-Pac trays are thermoformed of food-grade PET, with perforations around each cavity for later removal.
“Similar systems exist, but we’ve found they are expensive and not very user-friendly,” says Bigham. For the beekeeper, Bee-O-Pac promises to reduce hand labor substantially.
The trays are produced by Shepherd Thermoforming & Packaging Inc. (Brampton, ON). 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.
Bee-O-Sphere Technologies 519-586-3938
Shepherd Thermoforming & Packaging Inc. 905-459-4545
