Cricket flour energy bar pack wins sustainability award

A compostable pack for an energy bar made from powdered cricket flour has won the Best Sustainable category in the World Food Innovation Awards 2017.

Parkside created the natural, sustainable pack, where both the packaging and contents are produced from plant-based materials.

The Yumpa bar, with its compostable packaging design, addresses an increasing desire from consumers who are seeking to purchase more environmentally friendly products. Conventionally flexible packaging has not been recyclable and has therefore ended up in landfill or incineration post-consumer use, but this compostable pack from Parkside provides a truly sustainable option.

Parkside is the first flexible packaging company in the UK to successfully produce a range of barrier laminates that have completed the rigorous disintegration and eco-toxicity testing for home composting with recognised European laboratory OWS. The duplex laminated structure has attained full accreditation under Vincotte’s OK Compost Home and Seedling certification after achieving a high degree of compostability.

The compostable product is manufactured from sustainable sources including a paper to cellophane laminate structure, incorporating a compostable adhesive.

The oxygen and moisture barrier performance of the Yumpa pack is designed to deliver extended product shelf life by nine months, helping both retailers and consumers minimise waste in the supply chain. In addition, the lightweight flexible design offers a lower carbon footprint solution compared to other packaging formats.

The judging panel at the awards considered 265 entries from 29 countries in 23 categories. The compostable pack beat off competition from One World Packaging and W-Cycle for their ovenable OK COMPOST containers and ‘hotray’ products respectively.