Riverford is an organic farm and delivery company based in the UK that specialises in delivering organic produce to its customers nationwide. The company champions sustainability and strives to provide locally sourced fruit and vegetables with minimal environmental impact.
Prior to working with Parkside, Riverford packed its organic root vegetables in premade paper packs. This design was recyclable but opportunities were identified to better align the company’s packaging with its sustainability goals. As a result, Riverford approached Parkside to begin working on a new solution.
The challenge
Riverford’s goals for this pack presented a complex series of challenges. The company wanted the design to be fully kerbside recyclable, but this was complicated by the need for functionality including moisture resistance. Traditional ways of achieving this include coatings or foil and plastic laminates, which are often incompatible with today’s recycling streams. These mixed-material designs can compromise recyclability, meaning finding a solution that offered high protection while still being accepted in household recycling processes was essential.
The aesthetics were another critical consideration. The Riverford brand is built on its organic, ethical ethos, and the pack needed to clearly communicate these values while being instantly recognisable as part of the Riverford family. Achieving high-quality all-over print on a recyclable substrate, especially one robust enough for heavy produce, presented a significant technical challenge.
The mechanical robustness of the pack was essential as the weight and irregular shape of the root vegetables could place considerable stress on the pack during filling, handling, and transportation. Operational efficiency also needed to be considered to support the palletisation, storage, and distribution processes, ensuring it could be stacked and transported in bulk without collapsing or shifting.
Finally, Riverford was eager for the pack to minimise material use in line with its company sustainability goals. However, reducing material weight or thickness too much would risk compromising the pack’s protective properties. Striking the right balance between material reduction and durability required innovative material engineering and rigorous testing.
The Parkside solution
Due to the need for durability, Parkside selected a 90gsm high-tensile, tear- and burst resistant paper for the new design. This vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS)-compatible material was enhanced with water-based heat seal and moisture barrier coatings, ensuring maximum protection for the contents, and was extensively shelf and drop tested to ensure it was robust enough to hold the produce without tearing. As a result, it could move effortlessly through the supply chain without risking incidental damage.
As well as supporting freshness and integrity, the choice of coatings enabled the pack to be fully kerbside recyclable. This ensured that it did not contribute to landfill and could be reprocessed into new paper products, supporting a truly circular packaging economy.
To address Riverford’s branding expectations, Parkside selected a printed design that imitated the look of kraft paper. Thanks to its state-of-the-art flexo printing and reprographics capability, Parkside could achieve a high quality, all-over print that combined a rustic appearance with the clean print finish only possible on coated materials. This granted the pack standout appeal that helped build brand recognition and reinforced Riverford’s commitment to sustainability and quality.
The pack is a running design that can be used on different root vegetable products in varying pack sizes, with Riverford overprinting the product details in the packing line. This adds even more flexibility to the design, resulting in a truly versatile solution.
The results
The introduction of Parkside’s VFFS paper pack has delivered a range of tangible benefits for Riverford. By transitioning from premade paper bags to an automated VFFS design, Riverford has streamlined its production processes, improved operational efficiency and reduced its labour costs.
The pack’s robust barrier properties mean that no secondary packaging is required, which further reduces material usage and simplifies the packaging system. The new pack is made from 90gsm material compared with 100gsm for the previous one, resulting in significant cost savings and a reduced environmental footprint. The pack rate for the new design is also much faster at 35 packs per minute, compared with the previous 25 packs per minute.
In addition, the pack’s kerbside recyclability offers consumer benefits, making it easy to dispose of responsibly and aligns with increasing consumer demand for sustainable packaging solutions.
The Parkside pack design for Riverford offers a truly circular solution designed to enhance sustainability. The design combines the rustic, natural look that the company’s customers know and love, with the performance and recyclability required by modern supply chains. Together, the two companies have created something that excels operationally and environmentally, resulting in a solution that is as practical as it is beneficial for the planet.
The last word
“Working with Parkside on this project has been seamless from start to finish. Their technical knowledge and innovative approach enabled a brand-new paper-based design for our root vegetable packaging, suitable for automated filling. The result is a design that perfectly meets our sustainability goals, improving efficiency and delivering the quality that our customers expect.”
Matt Mountfield, Head of Procurement at Riverford
