Solo Packaging
Solo is a delivery package made of only one material: the dry palm leaf. The packaging doesn’t require resins, glues, or any kind of chemicals, being naturally biodegradable and compostable. Besides that, the container can go in the microwave, oven, and freezer.
Palm leaf is composed of natural fibers (hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin) which are proven to have excellent properties to be used in delivery packages, like retaining heat. Additionally, no palms are ever cut or damaged to obtain the raw material. Only dry leaves are ideal for production, so we just have to be a little patient until they fall naturally. They fall during the whole year and each one can make two containers on average.
Putting botany and design together, Solo keeps the convenience of a disposable package whilst making no harm to nature. This material has equal or even better characteristics compared to the polymer ones, maintaining the food temperature, not absorbing liquid in short term, and having no smell or taste.
Solo Packaging designed two types of packaging so far: a rectangular one and round one. The first one has a locking system between the container and the lid. The lid also has a little slope to pile other packages and make a safe delivery possible. The second one is composed of two identical fitting parts. Both come with a seed paper belt to ensure proper sealing and to inform the properties of the container.
It all started when Ana, a Product Design student, researched about using palm leaves in products and presented a fictional project to a subject in university in Brazil. Mateus, a Product Design student and botany lover, was there and fell in love with the idea. He spent months just studying and testing this material and realized how good the idea was. After that, he called Ana and they started to make it happen. Nevertheless, they still needed someone to help with all the machinery and to model the product, so they called Yago, the third co-founder and also a Product Designer, and invited him to be a part of the team.