The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2020–2025
Zespri's home-compostable sticker composts in your bin — and it gave the tech away free
After four years and $4M, Zespri launched the world's first fully home-compostable fruit sticker — then open-sourced it so rivals could use it too.
Zespri International · Sinclair
What it had to solve
Every fruit label is plastic: trillions of stickers and roughly 25,000 tonnes of waste a year, and even 'compostable' stickers fail at home because of their adhesive. Zespri needed a real fix, not an eco-claim.
How it works
Every piece of fruit carries a plastic label, and those tiny stickers add up: Grey and Zespri put the waste at trillions of stickers and roughly 25,000 tonnes a year. Most 'compostable' fruit labels still fail in home compost bins because the adhesive holding them on is plastic. Zespri decided the only move worth making was to fix the sticker itself — the invisible villain behind the whole category's waste problem.
Grey guided Zespri through a four-year, $4 million innovation journey with Sinclair, the label technology company, to develop the T55 sticker — the world's first fully home-compostable fruit label, certified for both home and industrial composting by TÜV AUSTRIA, ABA and DIN CERTCO. Zespri announced the certified label in October 2024 and said it intended to move all of its fruit onto it within a year.
The creative twist was strategic, not just technical: instead of hoarding the breakthrough, Zespri open-sourced it so competitors could adopt the same technology. That turned a single product launch into an industry transformation — Grey reports 200 brands across 20 countries adopted the technology within six months. The work earned a Silver Lion for Innovation in Design at Cannes Lions 2025, and Zespri's own product page now sells the promise directly: a sticker that breaks down in your home compost bin, 100% effortless.
Why it lands
- It fixed the invisible villain — the adhesive — instead of swapping one plastic for another.
- Open-sourcing the technology turned a single product into an industry standard, making 200+ brands adopters.
- The four-year, $4M R&D commitment made the claim certification-proof, not marketing fluff.
- A tiny everyday object became the brand's proof of leadership — every compost bin a reminder.
What it did
World's first fully home-compostable fruit label (certified October 2024); Zespri pledged to switch all its fruit within a year; Grey reports 200 brands across 20 countries adopted the technology within six months; Silver Lion for Innovation in Design at Cannes 2025.
What you can take
The most defensible innovation move can be giving the tech away: open-sourcing a breakthrough sets the industry standard and makes the brand the leader everyone copies.
Since then
Certified in October 2024 by TÜV AUSTRIA, ABA and DIN CERTCO, the T55 sticker rolled out as Zespri moved all its fruit to the label; by March 2025 the company was claiming a world first in selling all its products with home-compostable labels. The work won a Cannes Lions 2025 Silver for Innovation in Design, and Grey reported 200 brands across 20 countries adopted the technology within six months.
Sources
- The 100% Home Compostable Sticker Revolution
- Sinclair & Zespri Innovative Compostable Fruit Label Certified by TÜV AUSTRIA, ABA & DIN CERTCO
- Cannes Lions Design Winners & Shortlists 2025
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