Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke's Bay apple grower first in Southern Hemisphere to use compostable apple stickers

Hawkes Bay Today
11 Jun, 2019 12:46 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Heidi Stiefel said that the trial had been successful and the company will look forward to rolling out more compostable stickers next season. Photo / Supplied

Heidi Stiefel said that the trial had been successful and the company will look forward to rolling out more compostable stickers next season. Photo / Supplied

A Hawke's Bay apple grower has become the first Southern Hemisphere apple exporter to start using compostable PLU stickers on its apples.

The PLU (price-look-up) stickers are necessary for the fruit to be easily identified by checkout staff, but they add a lot of plastic waste, with about 1 billion PLU stickers being used on New Zealand apples each year.

New Zealand's largest organic apple grower, Bostock New Zealand is taking a lead and moving to an environmentally friendly alternative, trialling compostable PLU stickers for its apples this year.

Bostock New Zealand organic supply manager Heidi Stiefel said that the trial had been successful and the company will look forward to rolling out more compostable stickers next season.

"We are using the compostable stickers for a European customer and on the large Braeburn apples targeted for the USA and the local New Zealand market. The sticker laminate is 100 per cent industrial compostable and so is the backing the stickers come on. There are thousands of metres of backing, so it is good that it is now compostable material instead of being plastic.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"The sticker trial has been very successful, and we have had no technical issues. We will definitely work with the supplier to roll out more compostable stickers across our apples in 2020," Stiefel said.

Heidi Stiefel and Tom Bostock proudly display apples with compostable stickers. Photo / Supplied
Heidi Stiefel and Tom Bostock proudly display apples with compostable stickers. Photo / Supplied

She said that it would be the company's preference to not use PLU stickers, but a lot of customers and retailers require the stickers for identification, especially US, Asian and New Zealand customers.

"Without PLU stickers, consumers would not be able to easily identify organic apples from conventional apples, so they are necessary."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The compostable sticker meets FDA and EU regulations for direct food contact and breaks down when put in industrial compost.

Bostock New Zealand has also been trialling other sustainable and compostable packaging options across its products.

"We are continually looking for more sustainable packaging options and are very excited to be the first apple grower in the Southern Hemisphere to trial compostable PLU stickers this season."

"For New Zealand consumers though, they will struggle to visually see the difference between the compostable sticker and a plastic sticker because they look the same.

Discover more

Small Business

Hawke's Bay Housing: How to house seasonal workers during a housing crisis

13 May 02:52 AM

Bostock enters the wine industry

17 May 06:00 PM

Region's growers welcome changes to RSE housing rules but say Central Government need to come on board

19 May 06:30 PM

New Zealand's first export organic onions reach Europe

17 Jul 05:59 AM

"However, next year we expect the home compostable sticker which is being developed to look quite different," Stiefel said.

"We believe the Ecolabel material we are using confirms our commitment to sustainable solutions. We want to invest in better environmental practises and creating a compostable PLU Sticker on our apples is a good start."

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Tactix beat Mystics to win maiden ANZ Premiership title

Hawkes Bay Today

Napier teen wins gold at Australasia's largest boxing tournament

Hawkes Bay Today

'I broke the rule of my grandfather': All Blacks' brother on 75 hours lost at sea


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.


Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Tactix beat Mystics to win maiden ANZ Premiership title
Hawkes Bay Today

Tactix beat Mystics to win maiden ANZ Premiership title

A strong first quarter from the Tactix saw them lead the entire ANZ Premiership final.

27 Jul 05:42 AM
Napier teen wins gold at Australasia's largest boxing tournament
Hawkes Bay Today

Napier teen wins gold at Australasia's largest boxing tournament

26 Jul 06:00 PM
'I broke the rule of my grandfather': All Blacks' brother on 75 hours lost at sea
Hawkes Bay Today

'I broke the rule of my grandfather': All Blacks' brother on 75 hours lost at sea

26 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search