Dirk van den Broek is a mid-tier Dutch supermarket chain, with 132 stores and over 2 million customers a week. Together with its key suppliers FruityPack (cut fruits) and Heemskerk Fresh & Easy (cut vegetables), it’s looking for ways to reduce fossil-based plastic in the chilled fresh produce category. From portion-packed salads to meal kits and cut vegetables; plastic is still the dominant material used in this category. In this challenge we are looking for practical and sustainable innovations that maintain food safety and quality while addressing the growing environmental impact of single-use plastics.
Does your company have a ready-to-test solution? Let’s explore how we can work together!
Background of the challenge
Plastic packaging remains the industry standard in the cut fruits and vegetables category due to its ability to protect food safety, extend shelf life, and showcase products effectively. However, its environmental impact, including CO2 emissions and waste, has become a growing concern.
In response, stricter European regulations, such as the Single Use Plastics (SUP) Directive and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), mandate significant reductions in plastic usage by 2030. In the Netherlands, companies that market plastic packaging are also subject to a packaging tax, partly passed on to consumers, to further incentivize innovation.
The cut fruits and vegetables category in supermarkets make up a huge volume of these plastics and therefore are heavily influenced by measures and regulations around packaging reduction and recycling. Measures that Dirk and its suppliers have taken so far include the use of monomaterials, reducing the amount of plastics (i.e. reducing thickness and weight) and the implementation of (better) recyclable packaging like rPET.
The limits of further plastic reduction, based on current material, production, packaging and recycling techniques and solutions seems to be reached. There is an urgent need for scalable, cost-efficient alternatives that maintain food safety, durability, and product presentation.
What we are looking for
Dirk van den Broek, FruityPack and Heemskerk Fresh & Easy are looking for solutions to address the challenge of reducing the use of (fossil-based) plastic packaging in the cut fresh fruits, vegetables and meals category.
Currently, plastic is widely used across various packaging formats, including:
- Bags for pre-cut fruits and vegetables: Commonly used to package and preserve freshness of ready-to-eat produce.
- Rigid trays: Used for items like fruit salads, berries, mushrooms and meal salads.
- Flow-pack films and foils: Applied for wrapping vegetables, fruits, and meal kits.
- Sachets and pouches: Designed for dressings, sauces, and toppings included in meal salads or kits.
An important requirement for any solution pitched is that it does not compromise on food safety, shelf life, packaging strength and presentation as compared to plastic. Additionally, scalability and continuity are critical. The solution should be feasible for large-scale implementation and capable of ensuring consistent availability and quality over time.
Focus area’s of innovation:
- Plastic reduction: Smart designs or packaging technologies that reduce the quantity or weight of plastic used.
- Alternative materials: Development of plastic-free materials such as biodegradable or recyclable coatings and films, fiber-based trays or other sustainable packaging materials.
- Improved recycling: Light plastics like PP or biobased plastics like PLA are not well detectable in plastic recycling streams, making them less favorable as plastic alternatives. Solutions to make these plastics detectable may open a new array of possibilities.
- Out-of-the-box innovations: Any novel approach that reimagines how fresh produce is packaged or presented without relying on single-use plastics.
Why participate?
Dirk has serious intentions and budget to find a (partial) solutions to one of the packaging challenges. Because of the breadth of solutions and involvement of suppliers, among others, it is difficult to give an indication in advance of the value of a possible (pilot) collaboration. Possible forms of collaboration can be:
- Dirk, Heemskerk and/or Fruitypack as (launching) customer(s)
- Pilot projects to test new concepts in real stores
- A first step towards possible upscaling to 10 affiliated Superunie supermarket chains.
How does it work?
- Send in a short and concise pitch deck with your solution
- As soon as you have uploaded your pitch, you will receive a confirmation so that you know that we have received your pitch.
- Your pitch is only visible to Dirk van den Broek, Heemskerk, Fruitypack and their (packaging) affiliates
- After the deadline, they will assess all pitches individually and invite the companies with the most interesting / best fitting solutions for 1-on-1 introduction meetings to be planned after the selection
- If you both see potential in a collaboration, you can make agreements about follow-ups!
Participation requirements
- Capable of starting a pilot project/proof-of-concept within 6 months as an officially registered company.
- The solution may have to comply with applicable food laws and regulations and of course with (future) PPWR legislation.
- Participation is open to startups, scale-ups, SMEs, mature companies and other innovators with an innovative solution, product and/or technology.
Your submission (max 6 pages / 18 slides)
- Description of the solution:
Provide the most concrete description possible of your solution. - Description of the pilot:
Provide a brief description of what is needed to develop and/or set up a pilot for your solution and what you need from us. Address the support needs, necessary access/materials/data, and the financial proposal for the pilot and, if successful, for the long term. - Team description:
Provide a brief description of the company and team that will implement the pilot.
The submission can be made in any format (presentation/slide deck, letter form) but must be uploaded as a PDF file (landscape or portrait A4, max. 30MB). Videos, sample websites, etc., can be included as links within it. Submissions may be uploaded in English or in Dutch.
Intellectual property
- You remain the owner of the intellectual rights, concept, or solution in your submission until we, by mutual agreement, decide otherwise.
- Be aware that the submission (and the concepts and ideas in it) will be viewed and shared with (internal) stakeholders. Keep IP-sensitive unique (technical) details out of the submission, save it as a secret that can be shared later.
Timeline
- July 1st: Launch of the challenge
- Monday, September 8, 17:00 (CET): Challenge deadline
- In the week of September 15: Announcement of the first selection
- October: 1-on-1 (online) meetings with first selection of participants.
- November/december: Collaboration shaping with the selected party/parties
- From 2026 onwards: Start pilot/test Proof of Concept