In 2016, the number of corrugated packaging manufacturers in Spain, working with the quality seal Uniq, has recorded some strong growth, reaching a total of 44.
"It has been a year of much internal and external communication to advertise the advantages of this packaging production system," explained Juan Mendicote, technical director of AFCO, at the recent edition of Fruit Attraction, held in Madrid.
The Uniq brand was created one year ago, replacing the old Plaform. "We worked on the basis of the experience gained with Plaform and added what the market really needs right now, which is mainly new designs and models, containers for longer distances or more standardised packaging," explains the representative.
"One of the main innovations is that there are no limits when it comes to the design of the packaging. The marketer can therefore use the format that best suits them to sell more, and any container can carry the Uniq quality seal, as long as it achieves the performance in wet conditions that we require. The manufacturer must undergo our quality controls and no limits are set in terms of design, the only limit is the imagination," he affirms.
Moreover, the representative of Uniq stresses that the advantage of this new production system is that the quality can be adjusted to the product's properties, the type of shipment (by land, sea or air) and its duration. "We chose the required quality, and no more than is necessary, thus optimising costs and being more environmentally-friendly."
Recently, a research team at the University of Bologna published a work which shows that the shelf life of fruits and vegetables can be extended by up to 3 days with the use of cardboard packaging, since it is an absorbent material that acts as an antimicrobial. "We are very proud to have science backing something we had already been saying for years," points out Juan Mendicote.
"We continue to be leaders in the fruit and vegetable packaging market and we see a very promising future for Uniq, with new companies joining us every year. We believe it is a unique idea in Europe; the only system with a quality seal that exists for corrugated packaging," he concludes.
