Sustainable Packaging for Fresh Produce Best Practices
Sustainable packaging is packaging that performs this primary function but also has lower environmental impact compared to conventional packaging.
Sustainable food packaging has been in the spotlight across Australia for many years, but never so much as it is currently. Each of the states in Australia has been empowered to lead their own charge, with each state seemingly paving its way in isolation with only a vague connection to the others. Nothing is more certain, however, than the fact that Australia is relentlessly marching towards banning non-sustainable disposable food packaging in favour of sustainable alternatives.
What is Sustainable Packaging
The primary function of food packaging is to contain and protect products from the point of manufacture, through the supply chain, on to the retail store or end user and to attract people to buy a product to achieve more sales. Sustainable packaging is packaging that performs this primary function but also has lower environmental impact compared to conventional packaging.
Choosing Your Packaging To Support Sustainability
Historically, food packaging choices came down to utility and cost. Can it do what I want for a reasonable price? The packaging equation now also has a more important extra element. We now ask if our food packaging is sustainable, often giving sustainability higher priority than utility or cost. WF Plastic offers the entire BioPak range of plastic-free eco-friendly produce packaging which is perfect for fresh fruit and vegetables. Your move away from foam trays and plastic packaging towards plant fibre-based sustainable packaging for produce couldn’t be easier when choosing from our wide range of BioPak products.
Key to the success of our BioPak sustainable produce packaging range is its certification as home compostable to Australian Standard 5810. This, in addition to the range being PFAS-free means that it can be placed into a standard home composting waste stream to return back to enrich the earth, rather than ending up in landfill like plastic and polystyrene packaging generally does.
Using Sustainable Packaging For Produce
Sugarcane pulp produce packaging is an eco-friendly way to package fruits and vegetables. BioPak 500g and 1kg produce trays are an excellent replacement for typical plastic packaging that is otherwise widely used for fruit and vegetables. The 5x5", 6x5", 7x5"and 8x5" sugarcane trays can be used as replacements for the standard foam trays mostly used by butchers, grocers and fruit shops. BioPak sustainable produce packaging is designed to reduce the impact on fruits and vegetables while they are being handled, displayed on store shelves, and on their way home with customers.
Comparatively, non-sustainable trays are usually made from polystyrene or paper. The foam trays are made from non-renewable fossil fuels, and the paper trays are often made from old-growth forests. After a short useful life, non-eco trays usually end up in landfills where they take decades to break down, releasing greenhouse gases in the process.
Biopak sustainable produce packaging is made from rapidly-renewable, responsibly sourced sugarcane pulp – a by-product of the sugar refining industry and is completely plastic-free and made with no added PFAS!
Waste Reduction in the Circular Economy
BioPak sugarcane pulp trays are the first products of their kind to be certified home compostable to Australian AS5810 standards. They are also recyclable in the paper recycling stream if not contaminated with food. Additionally, composting food packaging reduces greenhouse gases. Composting BioPak-certified compostable packaging helps return nutrients back to the earth and improves soil quality. In some cases, it can even lead to a reduction in waste management costs.
A Healthier Future Using Sustainable Food Packaging
Switching to sustainable packaging is our key to the reduction of traditional packaging waste that typically ends up in landfills after a short useful life. Eco packaging also assists with resource conservation, and reduces the environmental impact of the manufacture and disposal of traditional non-eco disposable food packaging. By embracing innovative materials such as sugarcane, we can lead the charge into a more sustainable future.