Indian company develops sustainable packaging solutions

According to N. Siva Shankaran, Head of Technical Organization and Vice President, Business Development, of India’s largest multinational devoted to flexible packaging materials, Uflex, the firm has been actively launching sustainable and innovative packaging solutions for fresh produce globally, including FlexFreshTM liner bags, which feature Active Modified Atmospheric Packaging.

Uflex is present in all major global markets, including Asia, Europe & Africa and the Americas. The company strategically launched FlexFreshTM during Fruit Logistica at Berlin earlier in February 2016, and had a successful rerun during United Fresh in Chicago, in June 2016.



In terms of marketing, "There are major differences between these regions. The European market has a major emphasis on quality. European customers demand high standards and, in fact, the test protocols for new products in Europe are really stringent. The American market, on the other hand, is shaped by the different regions and associated climates, so seasonality plays a much bigger role there.”

Shankaran said that bulk transport of fresh produce is pretty much the same for Europe and the US. Retail dynamics in these two regions are, however, quite different. “For instance, Walmart uses clam shell packaging. In Europe, this type of packaging is outdated. European retail packaging favors the use of top seal punnet for fruit. Uflex perfectly takes these differences into account, but at the same time also uses a system that is commonly applicable across the world,” Shankaran added.



With its sustainable packaging, the company differentiates itself within the packaging industry. Most bulk packaging solutions make use of polymers that absorb the humidity that is generated by fresh produce. But there is a limit to the amount of absorption this material is capable of. Shankaran also said that it is not a very environment-friendly solution, as you always end up with a large amount of scrap plastic material.

“Our solutions aren’t like that. Ours is biodegradable in pretty much every aspect. FlexFresh is a bio-degradable film. Customers use pallets which are made of wood and cardboard boxes made of paper, etc.," explains Shankaran.



The system that Uflex uses is also designed to be flexible. In general, a grower just needs the right transmission value of the bags and, other than that, it is just a matter of changing and applying our system.