IN Brief:
- Reflex Group and Marks & Spencer have launched the Infinity Punnet for premium fresh produce.
- The pack uses a continuous clear window across the top and side, improving visibility when products are stacked.
- The OPRL-compliant recyclable format is being used across selected M&S tomato varieties in 220g and 360g packs.
Reflex Group and Marks & Spencer have introduced the Infinity Punnet, a recyclable fresh produce packaging format designed to improve visibility for premium tomatoes in stacked retail displays.
The format uses a continuous clear window that runs across the top and down the side of the pack, allowing the product to remain visible from more than one angle. The design addresses a familiar limitation of conventional produce punnets, where visibility can be reduced once packs are stacked or merchandised tightly on shelf.
The Infinity Punnet is OPRL-compliant and recyclable, with 5% mixed material content. It is being used by M&S across Capella, Sugardrop, Piccolini, and Pomodolci tomato varieties in 220g and 360g formats, with further produce applications expected as the format develops.
The project builds on earlier work between Reflex and M&S on recyclable tomato packaging and reflects a wider shift in fresh produce packs. Retailers want to reduce plastic, improve recyclability, protect delicate products, and maintain product visibility. Those requirements often pull against each other. A pack with less plastic may weaken visibility or moisture control, while a highly protective pack can hide the freshness cues that support premium pricing.
The Infinity Punnet answers that tension through merchandising as well as material design. Product visibility has real commercial value in premium fresh produce because colour, size, ripeness, and condition are part of the purchase decision. A side window therefore becomes more than a design flourish; it supports confidence in the product when the pack is stacked vertically or seen from a shelf edge.
Fresh produce packaging is entering a more technical phase as retailers and suppliers prepare for tougher regulation and extended producer responsibility costs. Produce suppliers sit in an exposed category because packs have to handle variable product shapes, moisture, temperature, bruising risk, shelf life, and rapid stock rotation. Packaging changes that appear simple at retail can create demanding validation work in packing operations.
Tomatoes create their own constraints. Pack design has to consider condensation, ventilation, handling damage, and shelf presentation. Premium varieties are often sold in smaller formats where packaging carries a higher share of perceived value. A punnet that improves visibility without reverting to a high-plastic rigid format gives retailers a clearer route through competing sustainability and presentation demands.
Converting performance will determine whether the format can move beyond selected lines. Cartonboard and mixed material packs must be cut, formed, lined, sealed, printed, stacked, and supplied with the consistency needed for high volume retail packing. The clear window has to survive forming, filling, transport, and shelf handling without compromising the pack’s recyclability profile or product protection.
Material selection also sits within a wider packaging supply market that is becoming more integrated and compliance led. Recent UK metal packaging investment shows the same pressure from another material base, where food contact compliance, approved linings, decoration, and supply security are being drawn closer together. Whether the pack is board, plastic, metal, or a mixed construction, food packaging buyers increasingly need proof of both regulatory suitability and production reliability.
Retailer-led packaging innovation can shift category expectations quickly. Once a major retailer adopts a format that improves visibility and recyclability, other suppliers and converters may face pressure to offer similar performance. That can support material reduction and better pack design, but it also raises the bar for technical validation.
Fresh produce packaging also has to be judged against food waste. A lighter or more recyclable pack that increases damage, moisture problems, or rejected stock will weaken the environmental case. The stronger approach is to treat the pack as part of the product protection system, not only as a material to be reduced.
The Infinity Punnet gives M&S a visible packaging development in premium produce and gives Reflex a format that could be adapted across other fruit and vegetable lines. Its wider value will depend on whether the design can scale across categories while maintaining the balance between recyclability, shelf visibility, product protection, and packing efficiency.
