Thinking about sustainable packaging

Jacqueline van Wetten (Vakblad voor de Bloemisterij), Ben Splinter (Koen Pack), Nouschka van der Burg (LG Flowers), David Bal and Jennifer Oudshoorn (Maarel Orchids), Simon Buis (Porta Nova)
Retail expects suppliers to think along about sustainable packaging in floriculture. "To remain interesting you have to be a discussion partner." With this motivation, growers attend a knowledge session organized by packaging specialist Koen Pack in Amstelveen.

For the employees of LG Flowers, Maarel Orchids and Porta Nova, the three parties that join packaging specialist Koen Pack in the Amstelveen showroom for a knowledge session on sustainable packaging at the end of February, environmentally conscious production is an important theme. Nouschka van der Burg says that gerbera grower LG Flowers participated in a pilot of Ecochain last year, an instrument to calculate the footprint and effects of sustainable measures. Maarel Orchids is the Netherlands' first Phalaenopsis grower with the Planet Proof certificate, says Jennifer Oudshoorn with pride. And Simon Buis of the Porta Nova nursery has already experimented with rolling roses in paper as an alternative to plastic.

Customer asks for it

According to the employees of the three companies, there is no doubt that sustainability will play an even greater role in the near future. "Customers are asking for alternative packaging," said Buis. Retailers expect suppliers to think along and have a say in sustainable packaging, is also the experience of Maarel Orchids and LG Flowers. “Sustainability is no longer hype, but reality,” says Mirjam Colijn of Koen Pack. There is a lot of attention for this topic in the media and the social and political pressure is driving companies to take sustainable measures. The appearance of these measures differs per company and per country. "In Great Britain a lot of waste and plastic is still dumped in landfills", says Colijn. To reduce those landfills, a company like Tesco is now mainly focusing on the use of materials that can be recycled properly. But with other companies or in other countries, the vision on how to handle packaging can be very different. “There are also companies that will use less packaging material by opting for thinner foils or that see more in biobased solutions. There are plenty of options.”

Several examples

Robert Kooyman of Koen Pack shows a number of sleeves and foils. He asks those present whether they know what material a packaging is made of and whether or not it is recyclable. “Many people find this hydropaper sleeve an attractive solution,” he says, passing the sleeve on so that the growers can see it up close and feel it. "Hydro paper is made of FSC wood, it is water-repellent, compostable and can be recycled multiple times", he explains. “Another film that is also easily recyclable is that of rHDPE, recycled HDPE (high-density polyethylene), a fossil plastic. Also made of plastic, but not easy to recycle and for one-time use, this shiny sleeve is made of metal-oriented polypropylene from MOPP”, he says while showing the silver-coloured interior. "And what do you think of this? This is PLA, polylactic acid. PLA is biodegradable because it is made from corn, but it cannot be used in the composting facility and can therefore only be used once.” Jennifer Oudshoorn is interested in looking at the sleeves, after which she decides to take some samples to Maarel Orchids.

Testing and choosing

Which packaging a company ultimately chooses depends on what you use it for, whether the processing of the packaging fits into your production process and what you want to radiate with it. Simon Buis picks up on this and says that Porta Nova did a test with rolling roses in paper. "Paper has a more sustainable image than the sealed plastic sleeve we normally use", he explains. The paper packaging looked sleek and beautiful, but because it had to be rolled in manually, it also turned out to be a lot more expensive. "We stopped it. But for a select group of buyers who do not see roses in paper as an 'added cost' but as an 'added value', we do believe in it.” Maarel Orchids takes a different path. "We are pro-plastic", says Jennifer Oudshoorn. "Our cultivation is quite wet and a paper pot will not fit." Encouraged by Planet Proof, Maarel Orchids is very focused on ways to recycle plastic. "We use our own tray of recycled consumer plastic (PCR, post-consumer recycled). And we are currently looking for a culture pot of 100% PCR. It is not easy because for phalaenopsis you need a transparent or at least a partially transparent pot.”

Sample book

"It is a quest", agrees Robert Kooyman. "We have bundled the possibilities that already exist in a sample book." He picks up the book and leafs through it. "All our packaging has the correct logos where possible, so that consumers know in which bin to throw it when they put it away", he points out. Convenient and clear, thinks Jennifer Oudshoorn. "I really already got ideas out of it." For a German customer, she receives a German version of the sample book from Kooyman. The effort that Maarel Orchids puts into thinking along with customers delivers something. Jennifer: “It is not the case that you can ask for a 25% higher price, but we are preferred by larger customers who are making conscious choices. That is very valuable to us.”

Koen Pack Knowledge session

'Because we care', with that motto Koen Pack has been organizing knowledge sessions since last year about sustainable packaging in floriculture. On request, Mirjam Colijn and Robert Kooyman visit the company location for a personal session, but it is also possible to attend a session with fellow growers in the Koen Pack showroom in Amstelveen. Mirjam Colijn is very enthusiastic about the meetings. “Many growers don't know which choice to make. With the knowledge we have of materials, we are a valuable knowledge partner.”

Would you like to attend a knowledge session yourself? You can register here.


Source: Vakblad voor de Bloemisterij, week 13-2020