New approach to laser branding

In the Eurospar and Interspar food stores in Austria, organic mangoes are now being labelled with a laser logo instead of stickers . This saves enormous numbers of coated stickers every year.

In 2017 Spar attracted attention with the first lasered organic avocados. The company explained that problems caused by the rough peel and the not yet fully developed technology prevented laser branding from catching on quickly after the end of the test. Following intensive further development, the first organic mangos with laser logos are now running off the production line at the new plant and being offered for sale in all Eurospar and Interspar stores in Austria. The SPAR partner Frutura in Styria has invested heavily in the laser system to reduce packaging.

“The laser logo on mangos enables us to guarantee the legally binding separation of organic fruits and conventional fruits even without stickers. We are already preparing the changeover to laser engraving for other fruits such as pomegranates, kiwis, avocados or sweet potatoes. This saves thousands of stickers and plastic films every day, which used to be necessary for the prescribed separation,” explains SPAR CEO Dr. Gerhard Drexel. The aim is to offer all organic fruit and vegetables unpacked or sustainably packaged.

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Under the title “Saving plastic together with Spar”, the food retailer draws customers’ attention to possible ways of doing without plastics or cutting down on packaging in general. Around 40 percent of Spar’s fruit and vegetable range is already completely free of packaging. Biodegradable packaging for organic fruit and vegetables is common practice, and buying meat, sausage or cheese at the grocer’s delicatessen counter saves significant amounts of packaging by comparison with self-service sales. New rules now allow customers to bring their own containers with them again for delicatessen shopping.

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