'biopack' by george bosnas is packaging made from seeds that grow when planted

even though there are many people who think recycling is enough of a contribution to the environment, greek designer george bosnas thinks the traditional waste management process uses high energy and is a costly operation. he argues it becomes expensive to process all the leftover materials and makes it a lengthy process. so in response he created the playful yet sustainable approach to a traditional egg crate – the biopack.

day 06. the package is already deconstracted and the seeds already are blooming

the chubby, little box is ecological on every level. bosnas’ innovative packaging is made out of cleared paper pulp, flour, starch and biological seeds. it comes with four eggs inside its densely-packed material, protecting them from breaking. after using the eggs, instead of discarding or even recycling the box, users are encouraged to plant it and water it so the legume seeds that are part of the box itself can grow.

friendly geometry that comes with the four eggs

the designer’s idea stems from creating a new packaging alternative that does not need to be recycled to still help the environment, at an even deeper level. through his research, he found that growing legume vegetables actually increases soil fertility because of their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen through their root nodule. this resulted in his approach to combine legumes and carton in the biopack’s packaging.

buy. use. plant – repeat

it only takes the biopack’s legume seeds 30 days to sprout after being planted. this enables the users to literally reap the benefits of the sustainable packaging way faster than the traditional recycling methods. ‘use – plant – grow’ becomes the new ‘reduce – reduce – recycle with this rounded egg crate. 

around 30 are needed to grow the legumes and help the soil

bosnas’ ingenious product won the young balkan designer 2019 prize for circular design.

winning project of YBD contest about circular design

product info:

product name: biopack

designer: george bosnas

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: cristina gomez | designboom