Following on from the success of new paper packaging for Costa’s premium table grapes, a new fully recyclable paper bag was trialed for this season’s premium mandarins.

The latest trial for mandarins was an evolution of previous grape packaging and was the result of an idea from Craig Greenhalgh, National Sales and Operations Manager for Costa’s Citrus Category, alongside the help of Gilad Sadan, creative director of NAVI Co Global. 

Sadan was instrumental in the design of the bunch bag for the Autumcrisp grapes, and he had also previously worked with the grapes team on the development of a fully recyclable at curbside grape punnet.

“There’s really interesting cross pollination between the categories and we are using the learnings and applying them to different produce lines,” said Greenhalgh. “For the mandarins we had to find ways to seal the bag, which needed to be a set weight. From a consumer point of view there’s convenience of having the mandarins in a bag, but with no environmental impact.

“Keeping very close to global and local consumer trends, we use new product launches to tune into what consumers are looking for and what’s important to them. We received written feedback from consumers congratulating us on our packaging sustainability journey.”

While still in trial stages, the new packaging has opened up new conversations with retailers, and there is potential for use with other produce such as avocados.

To learn more about Costa Group, please visit https://costagroup.com.au/.