Waterless Internet Flower Packaging, a breakthrough in packaging of flowers by Uflex, was pronounced winner of the overall Sustainability Awards 2018. It also emerged as a frontrunner in the ‘Resource Efficiency’ category that honors innovations in packaging that do more with less, such as down-gauging material or reducing the carbon footprint without increasing the environmental impact of the packaged products.
Uflex’s entry won both the awards at the Sustainability Awards ceremony that took place at Scanpack in Gothenburg, Sweden. Sustainability Awards, hosted by Packaging Europe, is a comprehensive and rigorously judged initiative that recognizes the packaging industry’s top achievement in innovative packaging design, material, technologies and processes. The competition challenges the industry to take a holistic approach to sustainability and to bring out the best ideas around improving the environmental footprint of packaging.
Uflex’s Waterless Internet Flower Packaging is based on Active Modified Atmospheric Packaging Technology (AMAP). Uflex has engineered Flexfresh, a special proprietary patented polymeric film for offering packaging solution for fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers. This special proprietary polymeric substrate is the first biodegradable (by composting) film that maintains the hydration of flowers during transpiration (evaporation causing loss of moisture during respiration) thus creating a closed loop system. Flowers are put to slow respiration mode by reducing the oxygen availability preventing excess oxidation and dehydration. The film keeps the flowers breathing in hydrated oxygen and release excess humidity keeping them touch dry. The flowers thus can go without water for 20 days as the humidity is fed back in to the flower when it continues to breathe in the modified atmosphere and further seven days in vase.