Greensack Trials Promising for Bananas

Organic bananas could soon be packed in New Zealand, Australia and Asia in Convex compostable Greensack bags.

Dole Asia is currently working with Convex Plastics to investigate new banana packaging ideas, and preliminary trial results have shown that compostable Greensack cornstarch bags may be an ideal sustainable packaging option for organic bananas, which ripen in their packaging.
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Up to 16 bunches of green Bobby bananas packed in Greensack bags were placed into shipping boxes and then sealed with a polyethylene liner to trap in humidity. The Bobby bananas, which are the smaller bananas often used in children’s lunchboxes, were then shipped to New Zealand from the Philippines and then tested on arrival to see how the packaging performed.

Convex Plastics Technical Manager, Andrew Sheerin says the preliminary results were encouraging. He says, “The trial clearly demonstrated that the Greensack film can withstand the high humidity conditions generated by ripening green bananas. We were a bit concerned that the high humidity shipping conditions might cause the bags to start breaking down prematurely, but there was no evidence of that happening. The bags arrived at their destination in good condition and we are really pleased with the results.”

Dole Asia New Zealand Market Representative, Stephen Barton says the Greensack bags provided Dole with an extensive 11-day shipping time and Dole is looking to use Greensack to ship Filipino bananas to other markets as well.