Little Bug, founded in 2006, is a baby food producer in California. They are only using local, seasonal and organic ingredients. In the packaging development they were looking into safety, environmental impact and freezer functionality. They first tried out a biodegradable material, but realized quite soon that it will crack and shatter in the freezer. They checked paper, but it would leak meanwhile glass would be too heavy in transportation. So after all the decision was PP, a number 5 recyclable plastic. The outer box is made of paper.

By Kristina de Verdier on 18 April, 2009 In baby, box, california, Design, Food, Material, organic, packaging, Paper, pp

Looks like paper cups, right. These are actually made of ceramic. London designer Anya Hindmarch designed the coffee cup and the idea was to create a reusable package and prevent cheap plastic packaging from contributing to landfills…and probably provoke a little with this “look-a-like”. The cup is like a thermos, it’s double-walled, so you can fill the walls with hot water and keep it warm longer. Seletti is doing similar things with their fantastic design, questioning standards, using icons of disposable packaging and making something beautiful and sustainable with it.

By Kristina de Verdier on 6 January, 2009 In Beverages, Coffee, cup, Material, noodles, packaging, tableware, thermos

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This wonderful concept is made for Designboom’s competition “Dining in 2015”, by Israeli designer Tal Marco. Not only it´s a renewable resource. Also the banana leaves have good properties for the food industry, it has a waxlike surface which is perfect for wet and greasy stuff. A flexible material so it can be folded in many different ways. Easy to open, you simply tear it open along the natural perforations.

By Kristina de Verdier on 4 December, 2008 In banana, Food, leaf, Material, natural, packaging

Compostable Bread Packaging from Village Bakery

Found this nice little figure in a paper about drivers for biodegradable/compostable plastics and role of composting in waste management and sustainable agriculture. Reading about this subject, it´s definitely moving forward, but big concerns when plastics and bio-degradable materials not are distinguished enough, so the consumers mix them up – problems for the recycling management.An article from the city of LA, where Neil Guglielmo, a division manager with the city’s Bureau of Sanitation says: “When you talk about making something compostable, it’s great, but the downside is: Can you then actually compost it? I’d hate to see compostable bags end up having to go to a landfill. “When compostable plastic is mixed with standard plastic, it makes the batch structurally unsound. And the result can only be tossed into a landfill.”

By Kristina de Verdier on 2 December, 2008 In bread, compostable, Food, Material, organic, packaging, village bakery

Conceptual. A PET bottle disinfecting microbiologically contaminated raw water. The bottle has two faces; one transparent face for maximum UV-A rays collection and one Al face that absorbs the infrared sunrays, heating it and therefore starting the disinfection. Alberto Meda and Francisco Gomez Paz are the designers and apparently they are looking for a producer.

By Kristina de Verdier on 30 October, 2008 In Beverages, bottle, concept, Material, PET, Plastic, solar, UV-A, water