The world of packaging offers few sustainable options for fruit farms, who begrudgingly rely on the structural integrity offered by plastic packaging. With new technical innovation in cardboard- and paper-based packaging, this is changing. But sustainable packaging material is still a heavy financial burden for small family farms, who sometimes just can’t make it work.
As Frog Hollow Farm developed their new trail mix product, I took on the project of researching and developing a sustainable package option. I consulted industrial compost and recycling experts, as well as packaging manufacturers, to determine which materials made the most sense for our production line, our product, and our customers’ municipalities. Most compostable packaging can’t be recycled and most recyclable packaging can’t be composted. Compostable packaging can only be composted in industrial-level compost operations, rather than backyard set-ups. And many of our customers’ didn’t have access to such services. What trade-offs were we willing to make and how could we keep the costs down, all while maintaining our integrity as a regenerative organic operation with deep values in sustainability?
I led multiple stages of design review and the printing process. I also worked with our fruit packing team at the farm to make sure the bag we chose would fit their work flow. The product was launched in 2023.