Eosta nominated for Innovation Award thanks to plastic saving technology

Eosta / Nature & More has been nominated for the Accenture Innovation Awards in the Netherlands, in the category “Future Food Solutions”. Eosta is the only organic company and the only fresh produce company to be nominated. The specialist in organic fruits and vegetables was elected for its Natural Branding innovation, which uses laser light to mark organic fruits and vegetables. Eosta has already saved near 2 million plastic packing units thanks to Natural Branding. On Friday 27 October the winners will be revealed.

“If you know that every day 3000 truckloads of plastic waste go into the ocean, and if you know that on a small island in the middle of the Pacific 40% of the albatrosses die from eating plastic, you realise we have a huge problem,” says Michael Wilde, Sustainability and Communications Manager at Eosta. “That’s why I’m proud of our Natural Branding, which allows us to mark avocado’s, sweet potatoes, ginger and other products as organic, without having to pack them.”

It’s a major frustration for many consumers to be confronted with a sea of plastic, when they want to buy organic products in the supermarket, Wilde explains. Supermarkets are obligated to make a distinction between organic and non-organic products, but the result is usually that organic products are packed. With Natural Branding that is no longer necessary.

The first pilot with Natural Branding was done at the beginning of 2017, with Swedish supermarket chain ICA. It lead to a cascade of publicity all over the world, from articles in newspapers such as the Guardian, to viral video’s in Taiwan. “By now we deliver Naturally Branded products to more than 10 major customers” says Michaël Wilde. But the most important effect, he stresses, are the miles and miles of plastic foil that do not end up in albatross stomachs.