Thessaloniki-based designer George Bosnas developed an egg carton that, rather than being thrown away or recycled, can be planted, sprouting the seeds that are inside it.

Many egg carton are made of paper pulp, a material that is relatively easy recyclable. However, recycling is a multi-step process, involving transportation, sorting, and processing. These processes consume large amounts of energy. In addition, it is not always economically viable to recycle materials, because the virgin products are cheaper.

With his egg carton Biopack, Bosnas promotes the packaging to biodegrade rather than to be recycled. Consisting of cleared paper pulp, flour and starch, the carton contains legume seeds. Legumes help enrich the soil, thanks to nodules in their roots, a specific type of bacteria that take nitrogen out of the atmosphere and fix it directly into the soil. Nitrogen is one of the principal nutrients for plants and is mostly found in the atmosphere.

Once the eggs have been used, the user can water the packaging or plant it so that the seeds can grow into green plants. The carton biodegrades around the plants.

Bosnas’ project won the Young Balkan Designers Contest 2019.

Photos: George Bosnas