Sustainable packaging is increasingly finding its way into refrigerated counters. Agrarfrost is now showing how frozen potato products can be packaged in folding cartons without plastic barriers.
The demand for more sustainable packaging does not stop at the chiller cabinet. Agrarfrost has now launched new, plastic-free packaging for two of its top products. The folding boxes for Potato pancakes and the sweet potato fritters can now be disposed of in the blue bin.
Until now, the family-run company from Aldrup has delivered frozen potato products in plastic-coated folding boxes. In the Paper folding box a film made of polyethylene (PE) ensured that Fat and Moisture remained in the product and did not leak out. Agrarfrost delivered several hundred thousand of these folding cartons to the refrigerated shelves of retailers every year in this way.
Wood fibres and cellulose replace the plastic coating
This is set to change in the future. With the company's internal Sustainability strategy Agrarfrost has committed itself to sustainable and ecological action. Together with a supplier, the development of a plastic-free folding carton for frozen food from the production sites in Aldrup and Oschersleben was started.
With success: „We have now succeeded in producing this folding carton packaging without the usual plastic coating,“ says a delighted Agrarfrost Managing Director Manfred Wulf. Instead of PE film, Agrarfrost now only uses wood fibres and cellulose to achieve the desired product properties of the folding boxes.
The with biodegradable Barrier substances pigmented wood fibres and the cellulose are applied in different layers, explains company spokeswoman Inka Kiedrowski. Together, they create the desired barrier effect. Kiedrowski emphasises that this production process is unique for frozen products. This is also the reason why the supplier of this packaging is not to be named for the time being.
Raw materials from sustainable forest management
Only the following are used for the folding boxes Raw materials from sustainable forest management, certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). Disposal via the blue bin in turn ensures that the paper is recycled. Wood fibres contained in paper can be processed up to six times into new products, explains the Fachverband Faltschachtel-Industrie (FFI).
The new packaging for the two buffer products marks the start of further activities for more sustainability at Agrarfrost. Further ecological and sustainable packaging will be presented this year, announces Manfred Wulf. „We are also working on other new packaging solutions to show our retail partners sustainable options.“
