THE BUSINESS
Moondarra Blueberries is one of Australia’s leading producers of blueberries, and propagators of blueberry plants. Nestled in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range in Gippsland, with supreme quality soil, the small family run business has always taken pride in ensuring they work with integrity from farm to customer and their product is of the highest standard. For over 40 years, Moondarra Blueberries has placed the utmost importance on how their business and operations affect both their people and the planet. To continue being aligned with this focus, packaging of blueberries became a key aspect of the business.
THE CHALLENGE
Moving on from their existing PETclamshells and bowls, Moondarra began trialling multiple forms of functional alternative packaging. They were determined to find a sustainable form of packaging to set them apart from the rest. It was important that the new packaging not only had a unique look and feel, but that it also aligned with the certified organic status of their product. This challenge was compounded by the fact that the business was not large enough to meet minimum order quantities for some of the desired packaging options. Moondarra Blueberries’ customers were wanting a suitable alternatives for single use plastics as packaging for their organic fruit. With limited options and none quite fitting just right, Moondarra Blueberries heard through ProSeal about Punchbowl Packaging who were more than willing to take on the challenge.
THE SOLUTION
As multi-award winners for packaging in NZ, Punchbowl Packaging are multi-award winners who were fully onboard with Moondarra Blueberries’ vision. When engaging Punchbowl Packaging, one of the key drivers in developing the product was for the materials to be 100% home compostable without negatively impacting the shelf life or quality of the blueberries. They felt strongly about this direction as compostable can be used to refer to only industrial compostability, which is not readily available in many councils in Victoria and can mislead the consumer. With more sustainable packaging, a higher price followed. However, Moondarra was transparent in communications with their customers who were happy to accept the price rise to support more sustainable materials. Despite operating in different countries, having aligned values between the businesses ensured a smooth collaboration. What resulted was a fibre bagasse base (fibrous material from sugarcane) with holes and a 100% home compostable ABA certified film that was pre-printed with branding, and a barcode and address panel printed in enthanol-based ink on the bottom. The packaging exemplified the vision shared by both Punchbowl and Moondarra to create a sustainable solution that addressed fit, form, function and environmental impact.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Moondarra Blueberries and Punchbowl Packaging’s developments in the sustainable packaging space has paved the way not only for future packaging options for other Moondarra products, but also for businesses in the produce packaging industry. Punchbowl and Moondarra have set the standard when it comes to bespoke, aesthetic and functionally sustainable materials, evidenced by Moondarra Blueberries winning the Eat Easy Awards 2021 – Grown Category, acknowledging both the supreme quality of the product and the equally impressive environmental awareness exemplified through the packaging materials. Due to the recent successes with the sustainable packaging at Moondarra Blueberries, Punchbowl has received growing interest from potential customers, who are wanting to learn more about their expertise in this area.
THE SUSTAINABILITY
MOVEMENT
Having already made impressive strides in planet friendly packaging with Punchbowl, Moondarra Blueberries hopes to keep this momentum rolling into the future. Customer feedback from the award winning fibre bagasse punnets has proved that customers are willing to engage in the sustainability movement and be a part of the process. Many have expressed interest in the trial of composting the punnets, and are asking about future products that will also be housed in the packaging.
A growth in customer demand for sustainable packaging will also add pressure to larger scale suppliers to follow suit – something that Moondarra Blueberries hopes will eventually result in leading Australian supermarkets making the switch to sustainable materials.
THE FUTURE AT MOONDARRA
BLUEBERRIES
With regards to the fibre bagasse punnets, Moondarra Blueberries seeks to build on this success and endeavours to meet customer demands – potentially involving moving away from 125g punnets towards the larger customer – preferred 250g and 375g and exploring other opportunities to use this packaging. As a consequence, the business hopes to attain more awards with an increased product range. Above all, Moondarra plans to continue doing what they do best: producing top quality, certified organic blueberries with integrity and respect for their people and their environment.
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