Innovation, Consumer Demand Redefining Sustainable Packaging

Sustainability in fresh produce is driven by three forces: product developers, retailers and consumers. Each plays a role in shaping what you see in the produce aisle, how it’s packaged and what’s purchased. My goal in sustainable product development is finding the balance between offering products that work for our company, and helping retailers meet their product and packaging goals in the produce aisle, while giving consumers what they like and ultimately want to buy.

Finding balance in sustainability means developing new products that meet consumers’ needs while aligning with retailer goals and benchmarks in sustainability.

SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING AS A WHOLE

Taking accountability in sustainable product design means taking a “whole”istic approach that addresses the whole packaging lifecycle. At Pete Pappas and Sons, our generational family grower/shipper/distributor business, this approach includes addressing post-consumption disposal of product packaging to minimize long-term packaging effects on landfills. As a supplier, we must consider the limitations of our own machinery, protective quality and breathability of alternative packaging types, any certifications on those products, and the economic impacts of changing to a new packaging type.

By focusing on the entire packaging lifecycle, my goal is to boost consumer purchases of sustainably packaged fresh produce while reducing post-consumption waste. To achieve this, we’re committed to offering only packaging with higher Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) content and materials that are either certified recyclable or certified compostable.

RETAILER GOALS + PURCHASING

Retailer sustainability goals often address plastic usage in stores, which informs our packaging development trends. Their goals may include both making plastic “better” in the short term, or eliminating plastic and incorporating alternatives for the longer term.

Making plastic “better” can involve increasing PCR content of products on shelf, or ensuring the plastic used is recyclable. One way to ensure recyclability is by using wash-away labels on plastic packaged products. This allows separation of the label from the packaging during the recycling bath and ensures that packaging can continue through the recycling process without any lingering label, adhesive or ink effects. Also, including labelling directives that make it apparent to customers how to recycle plastic packaging, is another way to make it “better.”

Plastic reduction or elimination on the shelf includes replacing Styrofoam or non-recyclable plastics with recyclable or compostable ones, including paper, fiber or other alternatives. These goals shape both what consumers have access to purchase, and what we as suppliers should align with and innovate further.

CHANGING CONSUMER PREFERENCES

In the media reporting on consumer preferences and even individual consumer social media posts, we see trends featuring products that are better for you and better for the environment. These ideals play a role in what consumers purchase and retailers sell. Product transparency plays a key role here, and technological advances in apps that scan barcodes to grade food and beverage products on their health and sustainability qualities have become new purchase drivers. These preferences also align with food quality, organics, American-grown and local product, natural-based packaging, and even preferring products with shorter ingredient lists.

Through this lens of consumer behavior changes and purchase preferences, there is a rising opportunity for sustainability in new product innovation.

VISIBILITY + PACKAGING TRANSITIONS

One key consumer preference is product visibility in packaging. Unfortunately, visibility is rarely outweighed by sustainability benefits. While completely recyclable and compostable paper-based packaging are widely available, I’ve heard many times, “If customers can’t see it, they won’t buy it,” and those types of packaging are simply not see-through.

But, there is an opportunity to give products both visibility and buyability while still allowing for compostable or biodegradable features. Even if the entire package cannot become paper or fiber-compostable, a solid first step is transitioning at least part of the packaging away from Styrofoam or plastic.

One key example is our organic line, Pete’s Garden Organics, which offers tray-packaged products. These align consumer preferences of organic produce with the added sustainability benefit of being on a certified compostable fiber tray. These fiber trays are an alternative to the use of Styrofoam or plastic for that component, which since 2021, has avoided over 7 million pieces of Styrofoam or plastic from entering the retail market and ultimately landfills after product use. By transitioning part of the packaging to an alternative material, we have made a huge impact.

Finding balance in sustainability for me means developing new products that meet consumers’ needs while aligning with retailer goals and benchmarks in sustainability — all while making the best packaging choices for our company, our products and the environment.

Where there is opportunity, there is always room for innovation.

Helen Pappas is the director of marketing and sustainability and fourth generation at Pete Pappas and Sons, a family-owned wholesale grower, shipper and distributor in Jessup, MD. She is a certified sustainability reporting manager (CSRM), with a passion for packaging, organics and zero-waste.