OUR PACKAGING DILEMMA—Why we have to prepack

Back in 1997 we believed that all New Zealanders should have a right to enjoy the benefits of organically grown produce. The main reason people gave for not buying organics was availability (or lack of it!). That’s why we decided to have a pre-packed range in supermarkets. Pre-packing and bar-coding is the only way in which we can:

1. Preserve the authenticity of the organic status 2. Ensure traceability of each prepack. 3. Protect you from too many unwanted germs! 4. Ensure organic produce is charged at the right amount 5. Track sales for each store.

We know about the adverse effects of too much packaging on the environment, and on our pockets too. However, at this stage it’s the only way we can get supermarkets to stock our range. We try to use as little packaging as possible, and recycled or recyclable materials whenever we can.

We have done trials with biodegradable packaging materials in an effort to stay away from plastic: potato starch trays, and corn starch produce bags mainly. Unfortunately they have not worked either because of the high water content of fruit and veges: the packaging would crumble down before getting to the store! Or because the materials were not transparent enough, and customer research indicated people would be unwilling to buy something they could not see. We also found out that most of the corn starch based packaging available came from Genetically Modified corn! How about for trying to help the environment??

We have recently launched a degradable plastic bag. It is still made of plastic but it contains an additive that causes the plastic to break down safely into water and carbon dioxide. Basically the additive breaks down the carbon bonds in the plastic leading to a loss of strength in the plastic. After that, micro organisms and bacteria take over and literally eat up what’s left.

We know it’s not the ideal solution, but it’s the best we have available at this stage.

Please drop us a line with any ideas or suggestions for our packaging dilemma here And check this website if you want to know more www.epi-global.com