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Desert Harvest Supplements Phasing in Two New Sustainable Packaging Formats

The supplement and skincare company will soon begin using compostable plant-based bags and refillable smart bottles for the brand’s entire supplement line.

ImpacX Smart Bottle
ImpacX Smart Bottle
Desert Harvest

Nutritional supplement brand Desert Harvest is an established manufacturer of aloe vera based supplements and skin care. Based in Ellsworth, Maine, the family-owned company is in its 29th year of business and is run by CEO Heather Florio.

Contracting out to organic aloe vera farms in the Caribbean region for their high nutrient content of volcanic soil, Desert Harvest sets up temporary on-site processing to preserve the nutrients, and then brings the preserved product to its facility in Texas to finish off the process and package the products.

E-commerce is the company’s primary sales channel, though it offers limited retail distribution through some pharmacies and hospital-based clinics. Florio told HCP that being an established e-commerce company was helpful during the initial first year of the pandemic, as no pivoting was required to maintain the flow of operations and sales.

Florio said Desert Harvest is “always looking for new ways to innovate,” and the search for more sustainable packaging is always top of mind. “Any way that we could find to make something more sustainable, whether it's not printing materials in our office, or the boxes that we use to ship our products, or the paper that goes in those boxes. We're constantly thinking about how we can make things more sustainable in our farms and in our delivery vehicles.” Desert Harvest is reported to be the first US supplement company to abandon single-use pill bottles in its packaging.

Plant-Based Compostable BagsTriCorBraun's Biotre 3.0 Compostable BagsTriCorBraun's Biotre 3.0 Compostable BagsDesert Harvest

The company works with supplier TricorBraun, who makes the bottles the company currently uses for its supplement line. When TricorBraun reached out to Florio about a new plant-based bag they were developing, Florio said, it was a fortuitous time for us” as they were ready to switch from their current single-use plastic bottles. The bags will be made from TricorBraun’s Biotre 3.0, a newly developed flexible packaging film that is made from renewable plant-based resources such as wood pulp and is home and curbside compostable. The bags will be printed by TricorBraun with plant-based inks, and will have a seal on the packaging to show the consumer that the bags are compostable and biodegradable.Compostable Bag SealCompostable Bag SealDesert Harvest

As it transitions the packaging for the entire supplement line, Desert Harvest will begin in April with its “flagship product,” Super-Strength Aloe Vera capsules, and will move all 13 supplement SKUs to compostable bags over the course of the year with future plans to implement changes to the packaging of the skincare line.

In the Texas facility, product is encapsulated and bottled on an automated pharmaceutical line. Florio said, “the great part is, we're going to be able to use those bags on the line. And it’s going to save energy for us because we're going to go down from about a seven-step process at this point to a three-step process.” With the bags, the packaging process will eliminate steps to sterilize bottles, add cotton, inner seal, and lidding.

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