Sustainable punnets for French fruit producer

strawberry punnet, fruit punnet, strawberry packaging, fruit packaging

Reducing EARL FRAISELINE's material usage by 45% with a cleverly designed punnet

EARL FRAISELINE, a fruit-and-vegetable grower in France’s Bouches-du-Rhône region, needed a sustainable alternative to plastic and wooden strawberry punnets. Smurfit Kappa created a corrugated-cardboard design with parallel handles that cut material use by 45 percent, allowed flat-packed delivery and met the farm’s sustainability goals.

The Challenge

EARL FRAISELINE, renowned for growing quality fruit and vegetables in France’s Bouches-du-Rhône region, sought a sustainable solution for packing its strawberries, aiming to move away from traditional, unsustainable plastic and bulky wooden punnets. Both solutions posed distinct challenges such as space loss, longer lead times, and safety risks from staple use in packaging.

The Approach

Our team of design experts aimed to create a paper-based punnet with a handle that minimises material usage and maximises space on die cuts. Unlike traditional designs where the handles protrude out, ours run parallel to the sides, allowing punnets to nest together efficiently in the manufacturing process, reducing board wastage and costs.

The Result

Our new innovative handle design resulted in an impressive 45% reduction in material. The punnet is also supplied flat, maximising storage space and minimising transport costs. Made from corrugated cardboard, the punnets are also printed with EARL FRAISELINE's branding and are totally aligned with its sustainability goals.

Products used by this client

Punnet | Fruit Punnets

Our portfolio of paper-based punnet packaging is thoughtfully designed to provide freshness, functionality, protection and exceptional visual appeal for many different types of produce.

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