HARTSVILLE, S.C. — Leading European thermoforming packaging specialist Waddington® Europe, a division of Novolex®, has become the first to supply a full range of soft-fruit punnets to the UK market that are easier to recycle and use less plastic than conventional punnets.
Made with Waddington’s revolutionary MONOAIR™ cushion technology, the new 100% mono-material punnets are now available in large rectangular (WE80), square (WE62) and standard rectangular (WE37) versions.
“We take great pride in becoming the first company to supply a wide selection of soft-fruit punnets that are significantly easier to recycle,” said Eduardo Gomes, Managing Director of Waddington Europe. “Our punnets have proven to be immensely popular, so we wanted to broaden our offering to provide an even wider array of choices, including the first large rectangular version (WE80) on the UK market.”
Standard soft-fruit punnet bases have traditionally been made of clear rigid PET plastic to show a 360-degree view of attractive fruit inside. These conventional bases, however, require an additional layer of bubble padding attached with a glue adhesive to protect soft fruit from bruising and spoiling in transit. If consumers do not remove the bubble padding and adhesive, the punnet cannot be recycled and must be sent to landfill or incinerated.
“Thanks to our new MONOAIR technology, our punnets do not require this extra bubble padding, reducing plastic content and making them much easier to recycle,” Gomes said. “Consumers can effortlessly place the punnet into their recycling bin without the hassle of separating the padding. That simplifies life for consumers while increasing the number of punnets that are recycled.”
The MONOAIR punnet is made to showcase the fresh fruit inside. It’s lightweight, offers rigid protection for fruit and won’t turn mushy from contact with fruit juices. The punnets can be manufactured with up to 100% recycled PET (rPET), and all are fully recyclable back into food-grade rPET.
Waddington Europe’s UK partner and distributor Produce Packaging are stocking the full Monoair range of soft-fruit punnets. For more information, please contact either info@producepackaging.co.uk or info@waddingtoneurope.com.
About Waddington Europe
Waddington® Europe is the European thermoforming division of Novolex®, a leading manufacturer of paper and plastic packaging and food service products. With three production sites in Milton Keynes and Bridgewater in the UK, Arklow, ROI and Eco-Products and Eureka Caterware sales offices in Holland, the vertically integrated business supplies the food industry with in-house sheet extrusion capabilities coupled with product innovation, design and sampling experts.
About Novolex
Novolex develops and manufactures diverse packaging and food service products that touch nearly every aspect of daily life for multiple industries ranging from grocery, food packaging, restaurant and retail to medical applications and building supplies. The Novolex family of brands provides customers with innovative paper and plastic solutions for their business needs today while investing in research and development to engineer more sustainable choices for the future. With more than 10,000 employee families, Novolex operates 57 manufacturing plants in North America and Europe, including two world-class plastic film recycling facilities. To learn more about Novolex, visit www.Novolex.com.
