A sluggish outlook for sustainable produce packaging

The widespread incorporation of sustainable packaging in the produce sector is an idea whose time apparently has not yet come.

Though development of eco-friendly designs is ongoing, shopper apathy and cost remain formidable obstacles to adoption, industry participants said at the 2024 Organic Produce Summit in Monterey, Calif.

“Recycling is a big ask and a big behavior change for consumers,” said Rachel Irons, co-founder and chief executive officer of Boulder, Colo.-based Nude Foods Market, operator of two stores in Boulder and Denver that package most produce in returnable glass jars. “A behavior change must take time and people do not like to change.”

Having the produce industry adopt a sustainable mindset is indeed “a complex challenge,” said Naomi Sakoda, director of product portfolio for Driscoll’s Inc., a Watsonville, Calif.-based berry grower. “Consumers say they want sustainability, but it is far down the list” of produce purchasing criteria, she said. “It will take time, and maybe a generation, for people to make a shift.”

It is crucial, meanwhile, that sustainable packaging does not compromise a product’s freshness and quality, which are two of the top purchase drivers, said Bruce Taylor, vice president of organic for Earthbound Farm, a Salinas, Calif.-based supplier of fresh produce and salads and frozen fruits and vegetables which is focusing on decreasing the plastic in its packaging.

Sustainable packaging also must be cost-friendly if it is to be successful in the mainstream, he said, adding that consumers will “vote with their dollars. We must ensure that we are developing a solution based on how shoppers make decisions, rather than to convince them to shop the way we want to sell things.”

Despite buzz about the benefits of eco-friendly packaging and the launch of new designs, an industry-wide movement is a distant dream, said Kevin Kelly, chief executive officer of Union City, Calif.-based Emerald Packaging, a flexible packaging provider that is working to develop recyclable packaging and is experimenting with bio-based and compostable films.

 “We are so far away from having a recycling system that is legit compared to Europe it is pathetic,” he said. “The whole idea of having a national program is far away.”

He added that sustainable packaging “is more talk than reality because of the price. Who is going to eat the cost of a compostable package that is ten times more than flexible packaging? Plastics are here to stay because replacement will be tough.”