Salty Prepares 50 Global Markets for 
the Future of Packaging

Zespri Global Packaging Toolkit | 2021–2022

In 2021 and 2022, Salty worked with Zespri to develop a comprehensive Global Packaging Toolkit to educate, align and guide teams across more than 50 international markets.

The work responded to a rapidly changing global packaging landscape. Governments were signalling stronger requirements around plastic reduction, recyclability, producer responsibility, packaging waste and circularity — changes that would increasingly influence how packaging was designed, selected and placed on international markets.

Our role was to help Zespri look and plan ahead, inform Zespri of the direction of regulatory change and begin preparing its global value chain for the transition away from unnecessary plastic.

The Toolkit translated emerging legislation, value chain needs, material considerations and packaging requirements into practical guidance. It considered suitable packaging materials and formats alongside the technical and physiological requirements of different fruit cultivars, helping markets understand why packaging needed to change, what was coming and how to begin making that change.

Turning Packaging Commitments Into Action

The Global Packaging Toolkit was developed by Salty to help translate Zespri’s packaging commitments into practical action across its international markets.

At the time, Zespri had established three key packaging targets:

• 100% of packaging to be recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025, with a focus on designing out waste and avoiding hard-to-recycle, single-use plastics.

• Where plastic packaging was used, at least 30% to come from recycled plastic by 2025, supporting better material choice and circular end-of-life solutions.

• Reduce the packaging footprint per kilogram of fruit by 25% by 2030, with a focus on reducing climate-change impact.

The challenge was translating those global commitments into packaging decisions that could work across more than 50 markets, each with different legislation, recycling infrastructure, packaging formats and supply-chain requirements.

Salty developed the Toolkit to help bridge that gap — providing teams with practical guidance on consumer and transport packaging, material selection, plastic reduction, recyclability, compostability, emerging legislation and the technical requirements of fresh produce.

From Consumer Packaging to Global Transport

The project looked beyond the packaging seen by consumers.

We considered packaging across the value chain — from transport and distribution through to retail and consumer-facing formats — identifying opportunities to reduce plastic while maintaining the performance required to protect fresh produce through a complex global supply chain.

The Toolkit provided guidance across:

• Consumer and retail packaging

• Transport and supply-chain packaging

• Reduction and elimination of unnecessary plastic

• Emerging packaging and waste legislation

• Materials and packaging of concern

• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

• The emerging European regulatory direction that would ultimately be reflected in PPWR

• Alternative and renewable materials

• Recyclability and end-of-life pathways

• Market-specific recycling and waste infrastructure

• Packaging performance and fresh produce protection

• Packaging requirements for different fruit cultivars

A critical part of the work was recognising that packaging could no longer be evaluated simply on cost and performance.

Where a material comes from, how much is used, whether it can be recovered in the market where it is sold, and what happens to it at end of life were becoming increasingly important considerations.

Creating a Common Global Direction

With Zespri operating across more than 50 markets, alignment and wider stakeholder engagement was essential.

The Toolkit established a common framework to help international teams make packaging decisions against shared principles, while still accounting for local legislation, infrastructure, market conditions and product requirements.

Through this work, a clear direction emerged: design out unnecessary packaging and plastic first, prioritise fibre-based solutions where technically appropriate, and ensure packaging has a viable end-of-life pathway in the market where it is used.

This aligned with Salty’s existing bio-coated fibre and paperboard technologies, an existing solution manufactured by Salty to provide the functionality required for fresh produce while reducing dependence on conventional plastic packaging. The Salty award-winning Wayfarer technology was used by Zespri as a RED19 Punnet and distributed across New Zealand Woolworths supermarkets to begin replacing PET and rPET rigid plastic packaging across the Zespri value chain.

The Wayfarer materials and packaging used by Zespri and Woolworths delivered practical environmental benefits — renewable, food-safe, free from added PFAS and designed for established collection and recycling pathways in the markets where they would be used.

The Toolkit therefore became much more than a packaging guide.

It was an education, alignment and transition tool, helping Zespri’s global markets understand the changes ahead and begin making practical packaging decisions before many of those regulatory requirements became established.

From Legislation to Implementation

The Toolkit also helped markets prepare for the direction of regulatory change, including Extended Producer Responsibility, increasing restrictions on problematic and unnecessary plastics, and the European packaging reforms that would ultimately become PPWR.

Today, much of the regulatory direction anticipated through this work has become reality.

The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), expanding EPR frameworks, packaging reduction requirements and increasing expectations around recyclability are changing the way organisations need to manage packaging across their value chains.

The Zespri Global Packaging Toolkit was designed to start that transition early — connecting legislative direction, material selection, product protection, plastic reduction and practical implementation across a global supply chain.

It remains a strong example of the approach we take today:

Understand what is coming. Identify where impact sits. Develop better alternatives. Build the knowledge and systems required to implement change at scale.

To learn more about how we can help across your organisation contact enquiries@saltoftheearthpackaging.nz or visit our sister consulting company www.velzy.nz