Development centre for research focused on corrugated containers for fruit and vegetables

vrijdag 29 juni 2007

Packaging is often the weak link for exports. Each year in Europe, fruit and vegetables worth around ten billion euros are destroyed because they are packaged in boxes that are damaged during transport causing the contents to be damaged, too. Growers try to avoid this problem by harvesting unripe fruit and vegetables and produce that is harder and thus more resistant to bumps and jolts during the transport phase. That means, for example, that people in Scandinavia eat less nutritious fruit and vegetables because the supply of nutrients ends as soon as the fruit is harvested. Billerud is now intensifying its research into transport packaging. The company’s new laboratory, Billerud Box Lab, will be inaugurated on June 28 at 10 am.

At Box Lab, Billerud’s experts will measure the long-term performance of boxes and perform tests in a climate chamber where temperatures and moisture levels can be varied to mirror conditions in the transport phase for filled packaging. Five additional compression testers will be installed in the climate chamber. This will help to increase the pace and quality of testing work and the number of customer-oriented development projects.

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