ATTACKING SUPERMARKET chains for flying in fruit, vegetables and flowers from every corner of the world could soon become a thing of the past.

A small Scottish packaging company is on the verge of greening the supply chain of the food giants with its Smart packaging technology and produce managementknow-how.Italso believes it will reduce the amount of food waste in UK supermarket chains.

The potential is huge given that every year 90,000 tonnes of fruit and veg and 45,000 tonnes of flowers are flown to the UK. The sector clocks up around 16,000 flights, with a single flight from East Africa to the UK releasing 190,000 kilos of CO2.

LongLifeSolutions (LLS) has been working with supermarkets and theirsupplierstohelp them manage their produce more efficiently. The North Berwick-based company claims it can now cut store waste by 30% and the volume of packaging materials by a similar amount.

In the UK, supermarkets throw away 20% of their fruit and vegetables. Five million tonnes of food ends up in bins every year, equivalent to around £424 per person.

By the time we get an apple in our hands it could be six months old, kept fresh with gas preservatives. The LLS approach allows the fruit or veg to create its own atmosphere within the Smartpackaging.Graduallythe metabolism slows down until the product goes to sleep. Essentially the packaging fools the produce into believing it is still attached to the tree or planted in the soil.

CEO Andrew Wright, speaking from the prestigious Fruit Logistica exhibition in Berlin, said: "We've spent four years proving the technology works and travelled to every corner of the world to do so. We've been in Chile, New Zealand South Africa and Africa.

"Many of the solutions being talked about just now centre on the use of biodegradable packaging. This is only going to make the situation worse. Most biodegradeable materials don't carry produce well and will increase the volume of food waste in the UK."

Wright added: "The supermarkets were very nervous at first but we proved the value of our approach. We sent a batch of flowers by air in conventional packaging. The shelf life on arrival was 14 days. It takes 32 days to ship flowers from Kenya to the UK. When we sent flowers to the UK by this method in our packaging the shelf life after arrival was 16 days. The pressure is now on the supermarkets."

LLS reports revenue of £25 million for 2006 and expects to book revenue of $100m in the next two years through its alliance with North American partner Georgia Pacific Corporation.

Wright says: "We value the company at around £250m and we plan to float the company this year."

Its most notable deal to date is with Wm Morrisons supermarkets but it also has deals in the pipeline with Tesco and Sainsbury's in the UK, French supermarket chain Carrefour and the dutch giant Albert Heijn. As a result of work with LLS Heijn is confident it can ban air transport from its supply chain in 2008.