When you last purchased flowers, did you pay attention to the packaging they came with? You should! Broekhof USA was founded in 2017 in the United States and is a company that produces and sells sustainable packaging for flowers and plants. Let’s get to know Joyce Aerts, Marketing Manager for Broekhof USA.
“In Europe, we already work with a closed-loop, where we use plastic waste to make new sleeves of 100% recycled plastic. We would like to bring this model to the US,” Joyce says.
Since 1974, Broekhof has been a leading supplier of packaging and decorative material for the flower and plant sector. Since 2018 Broekhof is part of the Royal Paardekooper Group, one of the largest independent packaging and business requisites companies in the Benelux. In 2021 Paardekooper added Dillewijn Zwapak to their Horti division to further strengthen their portfolio in the floriculture sector. Broekhof has a presence in Kenya, Vietnam, Colombia, and the United States and has its own factory located in Vietnam where flower and plant sleeves are produced.
For many years innovation has been the keyword for Broekhof. It is impossible to imagine packaging materials for flowers and plants without innovations and trends.
Trends in the world
The world around us changes. Trends quickly follow each other. Every year, trend watchers explain what the trends in the years to come will be. The design team of Broekhof follows this closely and translates this into new product and packaging trends. This way we can make the future world happy with outstanding products.
Broekhof USA is part of the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC) Chain of Custody certification (SCS-COC-007184) as a group member of the Small Business Certification Network (FSC C125400).
We can tell everybody that we’re so sustainable. But if there’s no independent certifier or certification, then it’s still not real, right? If I buy products, and people tell me that they sourced them in the best way, but they cannot give me any proof of that, I’m not sure if I will believe them.
By being FSC chain-of-custody certified, Broekhof USA receives recognition for providing products from environmentally and socially responsible sources. FSC is the global authority for responsible forest management. ‘Chain of custody’ is the path taken by raw materials from the forest to the consumer, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing, printing, and distribution.
Packaging is mainly to protect the flowers and plants. We also think it is essential that the packaging adds value to the product as a company. On top of that, we focus on sustainability and try to make the best decisions for our customers.
Some customers say, “the last thing we want to talk about is sustainability.” If we, as a packaging company, make these choices for them and offer them, good sustainable, beautiful materials that protect the products, they don’t have to worry about talking about sustainability anymore, and we can do it for affordable prices.
Concepts with a story
“Every concept at Broekhof has a story. An idea with which our customer adds product value. The packaging promotes sales or, from a practical point of view, it helps efficient processing. At Broekhof it is not just about a beautiful form. We also offer solutions that make the processing of flowers or plants easier or simpler. We thus realize growth and continuity for our customers. This is what we call innovative,” says Joyce.
Learn more about Joyce and Broekhof USA here: https://broekhofusa.com