Packaging Sustainability

You can do a lot with the familiar box of a Michelina's entrée; freeze it, microwave it, eat from it and it still holds its shape. Yet, Michelina's tries to do even more with this packaging as part of our dedication to environmental sustainability.

Here's a snapshot of some great qualities that set Michelina's packaging apart from the rest:

• Simply less packaging: Michelina's single serve meals use the lowest amount of packaging material in the industry. Most companies utilize a plastic tray, covered with a plastic film, in a box. This is called "tray in box" or TIB.

Michelina's sells 80% of our single serve meals in a proprietary technology that allows you to eat directly out of the box (EOB). Our EOB technology means we use less than half the packaging of many competitors; less packaging means less petroleum is used to create the packaging and less packaging ends up in a landfill.

Taking this even further, in 2007, our material quality testing found that we could slightly reduce the thickness of the packaging material while maintaining the tough protection needed for you to carry, cook and eat out of the box. As a result, our consumers throw away 1,357 fewer tons of packaging each year.

• More per gallon of gas: Another distinct advantage for Michelina's is that we have designed our food to fit into cases that allow more units to be stacked onto each pallet. By shipping more units of food per pallet, Michelina's uses less truck fuel per unit than most of our competitors. In fact, our more efficient packaging results in 5% more efficient transportation per unit!  
   
• Recycling for another use: Many of the raw materials used in our manufacturing facilities are delivered to us in cardboard boxes. After taking out the materials, what is left is an average of 45 tons of recyclable corrugated (cardboard) each week. What some might consider waste we actually turn around and send to our case manufacturer who is able to use the recycled material as part of the shipping cases we use for our final products.

Michelina's cares about making meals that make you and Mother Nature happy!

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