FDBusiness.com

The proficient team of product engineers behind Solidus Solutions has created fully-sustainable solid board packaging that is enhanced with the recycled fibres of tomato plants. This results in tomatoes now able to be packaged for retail using their ‘own’ plant fibres, a highly appealing notion for both customers and growers.

Every year, 85 million kilos of tomato plants are grown on approximately 1800 hectares in the Netherlands. Usually the life cycle of these plants ends when they are composted, resulting in the loss of the valuable elements contained in the plants such as protein and cellulose. Solidus however has pioneered an innovative method of applying this plant residue in a highly efficient manner to produce solid board which can itself later be recycled. Every hectare of tomato plants can produce 100,000 tomato boxes (trays of 6kg), which is exactly the amount of packaging needed for the 600 tonnes of tomatoes that are grown on the same hectare. This means that this year’s crop can provide next year’s packaging – a perfect example of maximum use.

The tomato board packaging has yielded quantifiable environmental gains, since waste paper and tomato plants become recyclable sources for solid board, and the board can later be collected as waste paper. Compared with the old situation, this innovation enables a reduction of CO2 emissions between 250 and 54,500g CO2 eq. for 1000kg board, or approximately 200 boxes for 6kg of tomatoes (depending on whether a limited or broad process scenario is used). This equals up to 420 kilometres by car.

This innovative bio-based solid board has been used in packaging for Silky Pink cocktail tomatoes for Duijvestijn Tomaten, a producer of sustainably-grown tomatoes, and to produce consumer packaging for 0.7 to 1kg vine tomatoes for Harvest House. Harvest House supplies a range of retailers including HelloFresh, the international online ordering service for fresh ingredients. The very first packaging enriched with tomato plant fibres, a 6kg tomato tray was produced for The Greenery by SOLIDUS SOLUTIONS. The Greenery supported the idea of producing board from tomato plants from the very first beginning.

The solid board packaging enriched with tomato plant fibres is fully recyclable, and at least as strong as regular solid board, meaning that tomatoes packed in the tomato plant board are well protected during packing, storage, cooling, and transport to the consumer.

Solidus Solutions was founded in 2015 and has nearly 1000 employees. The company has four board mills as well as four converting plants. Their mills, plants and offices are located in the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, France and Norway.