How AWEN's Packaging Consulting Services Helped Humble Hamper
Humble Sampler approached AWEN Consulting in 2021 to work on the packaging of the existing hamper. The main goal was to have a premium look hamper using only sustainable packaging and elements such as ribbon, tissue paper, labels and tape and consider the fragile products that must arrive intact to end customers.
The founders of Humble Sampler, Sherona and Gloria, shared some hamper inspirations with us and the budget for the packaging cost. We worked together to find the best solution for Humble Sampler Hamper. I would like to highlight that this is a two-way job and the feedback from our clients is crucial to the success of the project.
We worked with the client's requests and inspiration in combination with our expertise in sustainable packaging options and materials to find the best solution. Before, the gift box was a shipping box, and a compostable bag covered the box, biodegradable pellets and bubble plastic were used to protect products in glass jars.
For many people, the hamper looked sustainable enough. Humble Sampler founders did their best to find sustainable options to start the hamper business, the problem was that a lot of misinformation was out there and it’s quite easy to use packaging that is sold as a sustainable alternative, however, it’s not the best choice for you or businesses in Australia.
Compostable sachet and compostable pellets sound like sustainable options, right?
Well, Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) research revealed that access to both home composting facilities and consolidated communal compost disposal channels is inaccessible for a majority of Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) customers. In addition, most compostable packaging is only certified as industrial compostable, meaning it will not decompose in your compost bin at home.
Another problem especially for the pellets is that it creates confusion because the customers often don’t know if it’s biodegradable or just Styrofoam. So, where to dispose? Industrial compost bin or landfill? If in doubt, it ends up in landfill and the whole idea that compostable packaging is sustainable goes down the drain. If those elements end up in landfill, they will not break down as promised and will generate methane gases which are very harmful to the atmosphere, more than CO² is.
Focusing on making the hamper look premium and containing only real sustainable items, we have chosen to go for paper-based elements that can be reused, repurposed, and finally disposed of in the recycling (yellow) bin everyone has access to.
We offered a range of options together with its price to Hamble Sampler to evaluate. Part of our consulting service is to get samples to try and have a better idea of how the packaging and elements will look together.
We Selected The Following Elements To Make The Hamper Packaging:
Gift box with embossing - 100% recycled paper
Tissue paper FSC certified and 30% recycled content
Filling for the gift box – shredded Paper Crinkle Brown Kraft
Stickers with water-based ink and glue
Protection for fragile products – honeycomb kraft paper
Ribbon – natural jute
Tape for the shipping box – recyclable with the box
Shipping box – 100% recycled cardboard and recyclable
See The Feedback From Humble Sampler:
"Renata has been such a pleasure to work with in researching and sourcing our hamper packaging. From the outset, she was diligent, thorough and went above and beyond in terms of sourcing suppliers and ensuring we got the best price for what we were after. I learnt a lot from Renata as well along the way, in terms of what best practice is. I'm very excited to say that we're part of the collective impact working towards reaching APCO's 2025 targets for sustainable packaging in Australia! This wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for Renata's assistance. Thanks so much again! "
Sherona Parkinson – Humble Sampler
Sherona has also acknowledged that the packaging process has improved, it’s quicker and has reduced the over-packing of items. Reducing is very important in the process of rethinking packaging and the goal was achieved!
AWEN is a member of APCO & the Australian Institute of Packaging, our packaging consultants follow the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines (SPGs) and work towards the 2025 National Packaging Targets, therefore all the projects we work on contribute to the national goal.
By carefully changing the elements and the material we created a beautiful and premium-looking hamper that could be charged at 70% more than the previous one, and opened up a new market becoming attractive as a gift to corporate clients.