Tarrytown, N.Y.-based grape shipper and marketer Jac Vandenberg’s SUNRAYS is raising the bar on packaging sustainability.

Vandenberg’s SUNRAYS grape brand was celebrated for excellence in package innovation and sustainable design at the PAC Global Awards, taking home the Award of Distinction for its SUNRAYS home compostable grape bags.

“It’s been a great a honor for our company to be recognized for package innovation and sustainable design,” said John Paap, brand and marketing manager for Jac. Vandenberg, Inc. “With the ever increasing global awareness around sustainability, we understand how important it is to bring innovative packaging solutions to the market that people can feel good about when they pick it up. While the produce industry is not necessarily an industry associated with innovation and cutting-edge packaging and design, we are hoping to change that perception and inspire others within our industry to join us.”

Vandenberg introduced the SUNRAYS home compostable grape bags to its retail customers in 2022, offering retailers and consumers the first home compostable grape pouch bag in the US market.

The bag is made from 20% bio-based polymers, derived from corn starch and sugar cane, and 80% compostable polymers allowing the bag to fully disintegrate in three to six months under appropriate home composting conditions. The design features simple, clear messaging that informs the shopper of its compostable nature: “I’m not a regular plastic bag. I’m fully home compostable.”

The package also features a unique QR code per package that when scanned provides the viewer with full transparency of the product contained within the bag and the packaging itself, such as where the product was grown, how it was grown, pictures from the farm, the materials that make up the package, how to discard the package, carbon footprint of the entire pack and more.