The egg carton is an unassuming example of perfect Canadian design
Our method for carrying eggs is an unassuming eggs-ample of perfect Canadian design Calum Marsh
IF YOU ASK MOST CANADIANS, THEY WILL ADMIT TO EATING TWO EGGS FOR BREAKFAST. HOWEVER, IN FRANCE, ONE EGG IS ALWAYS UN OEUF.
Is there a more humbly immaculate commercial packaging object than the plain pulp egg carton? This biscuit- coloured biodegradable vessel is a masterpiece of streamlined efficiency, embracing a dozen fragile lily-white eggs in its 12 snug cradles and whisking them, miraculously intact, from farm to grocer to your refrigerator at home, as unblemished as the moment they were laid.
Sturdy enough to carry in one hand, the two sculpted knobs of protruding fibre on its base fit ingeniously into the pre- punched holes of its lid to secure a seal, the carton is pledged to fulfill its modest function and then – duty performed, eggs eaten – is prepared to be recycled, composted or repurposed for crafts, or used to soundproof a pervious wall. Such unassuming perfection in design is one of the quiet reliable pleasures of the whole messy human experience.
The pulp used to manufacture egg cartons is a sort of purée derived from old newspapers, scraps of cardboard and errant bits of paper, an enormous miscellany of recycling drawn from a range of generous sources around the country. Batches of the used cardboard and paper are carried by conveyor belt into a pulping machine that blends it all together into one thick morass. The result passes from the pulper in three-tonne chunks into machinery that sifts through the material for outstanding bits of metal or leftover staples, removing them as it passes on. The pulp then pours into moulds that shapes into egg carton form, at which point it is dyed, baked in a massive oven, and finally smoothed out and stamped with the relevant egg brand’s corporate insignia. Each completed egg carton can be re-pulped and recycled another 25 times.
The egg carton was in fact the invention of a Canadian – a 40- year- old newspaper magnate by the name of Joseph Coyle, who first conceived of an alternative to the then-standard practice of conveying eggs from farm to table by way of basket in 1911. The British Columbia- based Coyle devised a protective carton with cushioned slots hand- manufactured from newspaper. He elected to found the Egg-Safety Carton Company, and in 1918 patented the Coyle Egg- Safety Carton – an overnight sensation advertised at the time with a promise to “save you more than its cost” in acci- dental and now- avoidable breakage during egg delivery. It wasn’t long before Coyle’s ingenious carton became the new universal egg-transportation norm.
Today, most of Canada’s abundant egg carton supply is furnished by the Canadian Keyes Fibre Company Limited out of their manufacturing plant in Langley, B. C.. The company was founded in 1933 by an upstart tycoon named R. A. Jodrey, whose family has retained control of its operations now as part of their dynasty for 85 years. CKF owns plants in Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia, and is the country’s biggest manufacturer of foam plates, carry-out trays, single-use tableware, disposable paper plates, foam packaging, a variety of takeout containers and, of course, the ubiquitous pulp egg carton. The company employs nearly 700 Canadians, lords over almost 750,000 square feet of factory space and churns out sculpted packaging products 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round.
“The Company continues to flourish,” reads a statement on the CKF website. For the safety of our eggs, may it flourish for 85 years more.