We would like to share the following information on what we are using in the co-op for packing loose salad and spinach, cherry tomatoes, blueberries, cherries and other small produce.
First of all we have the square cardboard “burger box” packaging with inbuilt lid lid for larger quantities of small items such as cherry or snack tomatoes, and then for smaller fruit such as the local blueberries we have round containers and lids, made from sugarcane.
The kraft cardboard boxes are both recyclable and compostable and are good for reuse too, and a number of our members bring them back in to use again when doing their shopping.
The sugarcane containers and their lids are amazing in that they are made from renewable sugarcane fibrous residue using a low energy product process, are waterproof and greaseproof, can be put in the freezer and also used in the Microwave oven (up to 200 degrees C for 20 mins), AND are compostable! Again, we reuse and reuse these containers at home, and freezing them doesn’t change their shape or weaken them, although possibly could in time.
We use paper bags all across the co-op and also on the Fresh Food Market tables for our members to pack their produce in. These are of course recyclable and can be reused again and again until they’re practically falling apart when they can be composted.
For quite some time we have used the Natureflex bags for packing loose salad, rocket, spinach and microgreens, and this has been really successful. These are not plastic, are made in Australia from film produced in the UK from local-to-UK sourced cellulose from FSC forests, and are home compostable. Some members store their salad in these until the salad is used up, some prefer to move their greens to a glass or other airtight container soon after arriving home.
These are in addition to the Earthbags we have used for many years for packing smaller quantities of the dry goods. The bags are once again home compostable, and made from brown recycled paper containing a plant starch based, 100% national biofilm from a renewable source (not plastic lined). Earthbags are a good short term packaging solution so when you get your pantry item home, we recommend you move it into an airtight glass or hard plastic container. Some of our members freeze items such as nuts directly in the bags and use them straight from the freezer, and others freeze flours and rice for example in the bags for a couple of weeks before storing in the home pantry in a long term container. Before composting at home, please remove the tin tie if your bag has one.
For a short while now we have been trialling the Australian Biogone landfill biodegradable cling wrap for when we need to cover the cut pumpkin and other produce. We use a cling wrap for some items as per food laws so we set out to find the best way of doing this, aside from paper bags which break down when wet or damp. “This cling wrap can be recycled or disposed of in the general rubbish bin. Once disposed to landfill, biodegradation is accelerated approximately 90%+ faster than conventional plastic cling wrap, producing an organic matter (a natural fertiliser) and NO microplastics.” We were pleased to hear about the product not breaking down into micoplastics, however if we find a better product we will investigate that.
So there you have it, all the very latest on packaging we use at FIG.