Wanted: sustainable packaging with a cardboard look and feel, but with plastic properties (transparent, robust and water-repellent)

The Greenery is an international sales and marketing organization with a year round assortment of fruit and vegetables. We supply all major retailers in Europa and abroad, like Jumbo, EDEKA, Carrefour, Tesco and Sainsburry’s. We are part of a cooperation of 250 growers, but also work closely with brands like Zespri and Pink Lady.


Innovation Need
Consumers are increasingly aware of sustainability and look critically at the use of packaging materials. With the continuous images of the plastic soup in our oceans, there is more and more pressure to use less plastic packaging material, for which cardboard is a much sought-after alternative.

However, cardboard is not transparent, which deters the consumer from using it because they want to be able to see and assess the product before buying it.

The Greenery is looking for a sustainable packaging material for fruit and vegetables with a cardboard look and feel, but with plastic properties. Transparent, robust and water-repellent, and in terms of price comparable to current cardboard and plastic packaging materials.

On the left the plastic packaging where consumers can see and assess the products. 
On the right the cardboard packaging where it’s harder to see and assess the product.


What we are not looking for
We are not looking for a sustainable alternative to plastic or look-a-like.


What we offer
Purchase guarantee. The start-up / company that develops the right material for us has a good chance the we purchase the material in large volumes and using it at all the major retailers in Europe. In addition, we have access to products that can scale up production of the material.

• Send in a short and concise pitch deck with your solution
• As soon as you have uploaded your pitch, you will receive a confirmation so that you know that we have received your pitch.
• Your pitch is only visible to The Greenery
• After the deadline, The Greenery will assess all pitches individually and invite the companies with the most interesting / best fitting solutions for 1-on-1 introduction meetings during the BNF Matchmaking Event on April 21st, 2022. 
• If you both see potential in a collaboration, you can make agreements about follow-ups!

Pitch Format

• Send in a short and concise pitch deck of your solution (max 4 pages / 12 slides) with description of the following two parts: 
  • A description of your product or solution
    Give a short description of your product or solution, as detailed and visual as possible. In which phase is the solution?
  • A description of your company & team 
    How and when was your company founded? In which phase are you? How many people? In which market are you active? Also a short description of the (managing) team.
• The pitch deck may be submitted in free form (presentation, slide deck, letter form), but must be uploaded as a PDF file (landscape or portrait A4 - max 30MB). Videos, example websites, etc. can be included as a link.

Timeline

• March 22 at 17.00 CET: Deadline
• March 23 – April 8: Selection period 
• April 8: Announcement & invites for matchmaking event
• April 21: (Online) matchmaking event
• Q2/Q3 2022 onwards: discuss and start collaboration

Terms & conditions

• Participation is open for startups, scale-ups, SMEs, grown-ups, innovators and scientists with an innovative product and/or technology.
• You will remain the owner of your intellectual rights, concept or solution in your pitch, until you agree otherwise.

Questions?

For any questions about our Open Call for Sustainable Food Solutions, reach out to our startup scout Sandra at sandra.einvall@bravenewfood.com.