Vancouver, BC – After one year of extensive research, Canada’s largest sustainable packaging company, Earthcycle, is unveiling its improved water-resistant packaging as part of its long line of certified home compostable, recyclable and renewable products. The new highly refined palm pulp formula means retailers, growers and re-packers across North America can now take advantage of Earthcycle’s new packaging for high-moisture produce, especially mushrooms.
“We set out to develop a packaging formula that works especially well with mushrooms, which are one of the most challenging produce items at any store because of the high water content,” says Shannon Boase, Founder and President of Earthcycle. “Through extensive research we’ve now developed a new formula that helps maintain the strength and integrity of our packaging under high moisture environments for even longer, without compromising our environmental credibility of the packaging. Our clients have also found that our new packaging formula extends the freshness and integrity of produce up to 10 days beyond the regular shelf life of 10 days.”
Made from the natural and renewable resource of palm fiber – which is cultivated in Malaysia to produce palm oil – Earthcycle produces its compostable packaging by turning the fiber into a pulp. The pulp is then used to form any shape or size of packaging using standard vacuum-thermoforming tools.
“We’re very excited about Earthcycle’s improved moisture-resistant packaging because our mushrooms will now stay fresh even longer,” says Rick Watters, Manager of Operations for Champ’s Mushrooms, which is one of the first companies to use the improved water resistant packaging. “We love the fact that the packaging offers a consistent message with our organic mushrooms and that the consumer intuitively knows that the packaging is eco-friendly because of the natural look and feel of the material.”
Boase adds, “The packaging provides an emotional connection to the consumer – it makes them feel good for doing their part for the environment.”
The new water-resistant packaging is available across Earthcycle’s entire product line and will also be used to package additional fresh produce items such as avocados, tomatoes, asparagus, peppers, broccoli, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.
“We continue to see growth opportunities in Organic Berry sales and have explored a variety of ways to improve our merchandising and communication with consumers. Our focus was to better understand and address the organic consumer motivation to purchase organic – especially the core organic consumers, who make every attempt to purchase natural, organic, sustainable, recyclable products. We believe that the Earthcycle packaging will appeal to this core group because the packaging is made from recyclable, natural, agricultural materials, allowing the consumer to “vote with their dollars” for more sustainable packaging. We had to overcome farm operations, harvest and logistics issues and believe that we now have a design that not only meets our rigorous requirements but satisfies today’s organic consumers with a more natural / organic based package.” say Robert Verloop, Executive VP of Marketing for Naturipe Farms LLC, one of the world’s leading berry marketers. Naturipe uses an exclusively designed Earthcycle package for organic blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. “Our clients understand the appeal of having a package that speaks to the core consumers and they like the nostalgic and authentic farm “look and feel” of the overall design. The Naturipe-Earthcycle package was awarded Best New Packaging at the United Fresh Produce Annual Convention in May 2012.
About Earthcycle
Earthcycle has used the design brilliance of nature to develop innovative sustainable packaging made from a renewable resource, called palm fiber, which composts in less than 90-days, turning into a healthy contribution to the soil.
Earthcycle’s Founder and President, Shannon Boase, launched the company in 2005 after she was inspired by the opportunities of this renewable resource, formerly considered a waste product requiring incineration. Since its launch, Earthcycle has become a trusted, award-winning leader in providing certified home compostable and recyclable packaging across North America, displaying both conventional and organic fresh produce in Wal-Mart, Wegman’s, Trader Joe’s, Publix, Kroger, Whole Foods, Loblaw’s and Sobey’s retail locations among others.
For more information visit the website: www.earthcycle.com
Source: Earthcycle