"Carrots will remain fresh and crunchy in paper packaging for up to three weeks"

"We had already started paper packaging for carrots in 2017 and 2018. The challenge here was that consumers really wanted to see the carrots before they bought them," says Hans Grips, Managing Director of cartomat Schiefbahn GmbH from Willich-Schiefbahn. "In order to make that possible you actually need a viewing window, which is closed with a foil, but such mixed packaging is now rejected by the big retail chains." The expert is also very concerned about the complete recyclability of his packaging material - so it took a while for a complete solution to be found.


Left: The brand new paper packaging for carrots
Right: Managing Director Hans Grips at last year's Potato Europe

After various tests, it turned out that the paper packaging itself was much better for the durability of the carrots than plastic packaging. "The carrots remained fresh and crunchy at room temperature for up to three weeks, and such a discovery must be considered in the trade." Ultimately, they opted for paper packaging with open windows for ideal presentation, optimum durability and easy, environmentally friendly disposal. The secret of durability lies in the material: "Thanks to its long-fiber structure, our paper is particularly receptive to water and regulates the moisture of the carrots very well."

Vertical and horizontal packaging
"At the moment there is a big problem in Germany: The packaging companies are under pressure from the trade to find alternatives to plastic - because that's what the consumer wants." To address this problem, cartomat now offers its practical paper packaging. This is on the one hand for vertical packaging, but also small packages in horizontal machines. "We can convert any machine to paper packaging with comparatively little financial outlay."

The company headquarters in Willich

Environmentally friendly mono-packaging
Plastic-free packaging is a major trend in German food retailing and many chains have set ambitious goals for avoidance. As a result, some materials have been incorrectly declared as recyclable on the market. "We want to offer honest paper packaging - cartoPaper makes such eco-friendly mono-packaging possible, and so far, we're the only supplier in the world to come up with a fully recyclable solution," Grips concludes.

For more information:
Hans Grips
cartomat Willich GmbH 
Gewerbepark Stahlwerk Becker
Schmelzerstraße 9, 47877 Willich
Phone: 0049 - (0)2154 - 818855
Telefax 0049 - (0)2154 - 818871
Mail: cgrips@cartomat.de 
Web: www.cartomat.de