A Hawke’s Bay organic chicken producer has launched New Zealand’s first compostable meat packaging.
A Hawke’s Bay organic chicken producer has launched New Zealand’s first compostable meat packaging.
Bostock Brothers has developed new home compostable packaging which is made from corn sources and wood pulp.
Bostock Brothers co-owners, Ben and George Bostock say the company is moving away from plastic and is excited about it’s innovative, new compostable packaging made from renewable, plant materials.
“We started looking at more environmentally friendly options for our packaging over a year ago,” says Ben.
“Putting meat in compostable packaging obviously poses challenges given the nature of the product. But we have worked hard to successfully develop a compostable option that works.”
Bostock Brothers worked with Hamilton based company, Convex, to create compostable econic packaging which would be suitable for meat.
The films that have been used to make the Econic® packaging are certified to the European and American composability standards. However, currently in New Zealand there is no official compostable standard.
“Our packaging is as certified as we can make it. We are pro-regulation and would like to see New Zealand quickly develop home compostable standards too, so consumers can be assured that they are buying products which are compostable.”
“We are calling on the industry to regulate so there is some assurance. We are educating consumers ourselves and providing the necessary information they need to dispose of our packaging. It would certainly help if we had better regulation in New Zealand.”
The new chicken packaging is compostable when disposed of in a home compost environment containing heat, water, oxygen, soil and micro-organisms.
““Home composters do need to use plenty of soil and get the air moving through their compost heaps or green bins to ensure the compost process works properly . An imbalance creates anaerobic degradation that releases methane instead which is why we are trying to inform people how a compost actually works. “
George says Bostock Brothers compostable packaging is the way forward as there is a movement to ditch plastic.
“We want to be part of the drive to get rid of plastic. We want to be leaders in our industry. We are passionate about farming sustainably and reducing our environmental impact to meet demand from our conscious consumers.”
In 2014, Ben Bostock set up Bostock Brothers which is New Zealand’s first orchard based organic free range chicken farm. His brother George joined the business a few years later. Bostock Brothers is now racing to keep up with the demand for organic chicken.
George says consumers are more aware of where their food comes from and they want to know the full story.
“We are totally transparent and want to show the best way chickens are raised in New Zealand. It’s farming sustainably, not only on the farm, but right the way through to the consumer, including the packaging.”
“We are confident that our compostable packaging will be another point of difference we can offer, which will also set us apart from the big corporate chicken producers, and give the environmentally conscious consumers a choice.”
