Waddington Europe strawberry basket Monoair

Waddington Europe, a division of Novolex, has launched a new 100 per cent mono-material protective soft-fruit punnet utilising the company’s Monoaircushion technology.

Eduardo Gomes, managing director ofWaddington Europe, said the technology has enabled the packaging specialistto eliminate the need for bubble padding, which has traditionally been used to protect fruit from bruising and spoiling in transit. However, it needed to be removed for the container to be properly recycled.

“The Monoair cushion is now integrated into the base of Waddington's 100 per cent recycled PET (rPET) punnets, eliminating the need for a separate bubble pad,” said Gomes.

“That conserves resources without compromising on the high standards of product protection and quality that our customers have come to expect fromWaddington Europe.

'We also took the opportunity to redesign and downgauge the punnets so that they now contain 30 per cent less plastic than before while still maintaining their excellent structural integrity,' Gomes added.

Having undergone successful trials with two ofWaddington Europe'slargest soft-fruit customers, the Monoair cushion punnets are now available for the 2022 soft-fruit season.