Caled Containers was founded in 1976 by Don Calvert and William Edwards and established on the Calvert family property at North Franklin, Tasmania. William Edwards subsequently sold his share of the business.The company was initially established as a complementary business to the Calvert family's extensive orchard interests. The apple industry downturn in the 1970's provided the motivation for expansion of the plastic moulding business, which is now the main focus of activities. The company's initial aim was to manufacture plastic bottles and closures for use by Tasmanian manufacturers who were subject to high freight costs, inconsistent deliveries and excessively high minimum orders for the small Tasmanian market.

Caled Containers is still owned and operated by the Calvert family at the family property in North Franklin and now employs up to 25 staff and several contractors.

Major Tasmanian customers include Betta Milk, Cascade Beverages, Hartz Mineral Water, Hunters Products, Juicy Isle, National Foods and Tamar Valley Dairy, Tasmanian Bakeries, Sunrise Bakery and Cripps Nubake.

With the initial aim achieved, the company's focus is expanding to include interstate and overseas markets.

As the major Tasmanian manufacturer supplier of plastic bottles, packaging and closures for use in food and non-food applications Caled Containers supports the principles of the National Packaging covenant. The company maintains strict rules with regards to in-house recycling in order to comply with the need to reduce the impact of waste materials on the environment. Caled Containers endeavours to keep abreast with the latest technology, using recyclable materials wherever possible and reviewing tooling design to reduce the weight of manufactured products.

Caled Containers became a signatory to the National Packaging Covenant in 2000. To meet the requirements of the covenant the company has reviewed its 2008 - 2009 action plan and developed its 2009 - 2010 action plan. We are represented on the Tasmanian Jurisdictional Projects Group, which aims to have a sustainable kerbside recycling system operating in Tasmania.

The majority of the company's products are manufactured using Polyethylene (HDPE) and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and modest amounts of other miscellaneous materials. The company has 10 blow moulding machines capable of producing bottles ranging from 25 ml to 5 litres. Five injection moulding machines produce closures and other componentry up to 400grams shot size. Three Injection-Stretch Blow Moulding machines are in operation, capable of moulding PET bottles and jars up to 5 litres. Three thermoforming machines manufacture lightweight trays, punnets and containers from PET, HIPS and PVC up to 400mm x 550mm. Caled is also a distributor of plastic pails, 10 to 25 litre cubic drums, pumps and trigger sprayers.

We have a quality system based on ISO9002 which has been audited by Cadbury Schweppes, CUB, Betta Milk and National Foods. Management and staff are very proud of the constant improvements in quality, which have been achieved through close co operation with our customers.

We are currently working towards HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) accreditation.