Unique Design: Fruit encasements that protect the delicate contents!

Market: Food packaging
End-use Product: BananaBunker® fruit encasement
Polymer: Styrolux® 3G 46 SBC
Effect: Protection of fruit (bananas)

PROBLEM: The banana, a favorite yet delicate fruit, can be easily bruised when carried in a child’s lunch box or in an over-stuffed picnic basket. When placed in a briefcase or backpack, bananas can easily be crushed by the contents such as: folders, textbooks and binders. To overcome this problem Paul Stremple, an inventor, artist, designer and President of Cultured Containers, had the idea to invent the BananaBunker®—a rigid and flexible banana encasement to protect the soft fruit. However, he was not versed in the materials that could help bring his new idea to the market.

SOLUTION: Stremple contacted BASF to work jointly on this dynamic design which needed a material with the exact combination of mechanical properties and transparency. The perfect match was BASF’s latest Styrolux® 3G 46 SBC grade . This material can be easily blow-molded and offered the high-hinge flex cycle required for the unique encasement.

The result was the BananaBunker® which quickly received acceptance in the international markets where large imports of bananas are customary.
The BananaBunker® has also been selected for “SAFE: Design Takes on Risk,” an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The unusual encasement is available in five colors: blue, green, orange, yellow and clear. In the future, Stremple also plans to extend his concept to other snack fruits.

Styrolux® 3G 46 – a styrene-butadiene block copolymer (SBC) is ideal for unique designs.

Excellent clarity, toughness, and stiffness	No chlorides, no halogens, no plasticizers
Cost-effective	Excellent Hinge Life
Easy to cut	Easy to process