“Koen Pack is shaking things up, the time for change is now” remarks Marco Zwaan, Chief Executive Officer North America. He continues: “These are interesting times, we can feel it personally and in a professional sense. In times of uncertainty people look for hope and comfort. This moves us to design our products in a way that brings people together, as well as create packaging that you can feel good about.
Their slogan is ‘The Personal Touch’ and according to Zwaan, it is not just a fancy line on their letterhead. “These words motivate us to work with our customers in a personal way and it moves us to create a better world. This means that sustainability is a top priority for Koen Pack. We have worked hard to understand the social, economic, and environmental impacts of packaging, and how to offer different solutions for the industry. We take a confident stance against greenwashing and champion real change by providing solutions that are realistic, sustainable, and economical.”
One of the most impactful endeavors Koen Pack has embarked on is moving its production of pot covers. “Producing the pot-covers in the USA and Canada provides important benefits to us, our customers and the planet.”
“Koen Pack is also introducing some industry-changing packaging options at the Global Produce & Floral Show in Anaheim”, Zwaan says. “We will be introducing our exciting partnership with Okeanos, Made From Stone, together we have created packaging that reduces the amount of plastic in our supply chain, as well as the CO2 footprint of our products. It’s all about source reduction, remarks Zwaan “we replace 60% of the total amount of plastic at the beginning of our manufacturing process, stemming the tide of plastic pouring into the open environment, meaning the impact is immediate. These new products run on existing manufacturing equipment, are beautiful and strong, while maintaining essential mechanical properties like water retention. Each products also features a QR code that will help consumers understand the positive environmental impact of their purchasing choice.”
Zwaan continues: “In addition to stone products we are also thrilled to be introducing our grass products. Every year a staggering amount of trees are being cut for paper production. Estimates are that 4 to 8 billion trees are cut for paper production. We can make a difference by saving 80% of the trees used in our packaging. Our grass paper has all the same qualifications as we were used to when using regular paper. We have recently tested several applications and all the test came out the same or slightly better than our regular paper. The benefit of grass is that it grows almost everywhere and it is very regenerative.”
The incredible thing about grass, Marco adds “is that we are able to accomplish a huge reduction in the use of chemicals, energy, and water during production.”
For more information:
Koen Pack
www.koenpack.com