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Hey, Football Fans: Recycle Pizza Boxes, Please!

Most pizza lovers stocking up for football’s championship game know they can recycle pizza boxes, but an alarming 40 percent say they don’t always do so.

That’s the main finding of a national survey by sustainable packaging leader DS Smith, which said pizza boxes are indeed 100 percent recyclable. Pizza boxes can be easily recycled providing any crumbs and cheese are removed before they go into recyclable trash.

With 12.5 million pizzas expected to be sold on Sunday, Feb. 12, that’s almost enough material from 12-inch by 12-inch boxes to stretch from the Eagles’ Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia to the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City … and back.

In the run-up to the NFL’s Big Game between those two teams, DS Smith is calling on all fans to properly recycle pizza boxes.

“We are driven to make changes both big and small in how the packaging industry operates to contribute to a more sustainable future,” said DS Smith’s Melanie Galloway, vice president, sales, marketing and innovation. “Part of that mission includes educating consumers on what they can do to be part of the solution, too, even something as simple as being sure to recycle your pizza boxes.”

The company survey, taken Jan. 27-30, found that two-thirds (67 percent) of adults believe pizza boxes are recyclable – ranking fifth among a list of popular items. Leading the way is plastic water bottles, with 88 percent of respondents saying they can be recycled. Next came newspapers or magazines (82 percent) and glass jars and milk cartons (both at 75 percent).

Even with high recognition among consumers that pizza containers should go into recyclable trash, three of five adults say they don’t always do so – with 19 percent saying they never do, 11 percent only sometimes and 10 percent rarely.

Still, a majority of those surveyed – 60 percent – respond that they recycle, with 43 percent saying they always do so and 17 percent saying most of the time.

DS Smith wants all consumers to know that pizza boxes can be recycled – important because any increase in recycling contributes to a circular economy designed to replace problem plastics, take carbon out of supply chains and prove innovative recycling solutions.

Recovered fibers can be reused as many as 10 times by paper and packaging companies to make new boxes, diverting waste from landfills and incinerators and toward local recycling facilities.

For its part, DS Smith produces a recyclable pizza pad, an insert under the pies used in boxes by major, nationally acclaimed pizza brands. The packaging company sells millions of the pads each year, recording a burst in production amid the frenzy of the football season’s final weeks.

The customizable, 100 percent recyclable pad is flat on one side, facing the bottom of the box, and wavy on the top, keeping the pizza crust crisp and dry. That so-called fluting also helps hold the temperature in the box during deliveries, DS Smith said.

The DS Smith product marks an example of the company’s renewable, fiber-based packaging solutions for hundreds of thousands of products for both traditional and e-commerce retailers, covering wine boxes and ready-meal trays to cardboard coolers and fresh fruit trays.

It marks just one of many ways that DS Smith uses innovation and imagination to create sustainable packaging solutions that support the transition to a circular economy that aims to reduce and eliminate waste and advocates for the reuse of materials.

The poll was taken Jan. 27-30 with 1,221 respondents, a total that generally has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. It was conducted using an online data collection methodology with the research firm Dynata.

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Fresh Del Monte, Talc Investment Sign Somalia Bananas Deal

Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., one of the world’s leading vertically integrated producers, marketers and distributors of high-quality fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, and Moze Holding Limited, a Talc Investment company, have signed a multi-year partnership for Somalia bananas located in the heart of the previously famed banana belt area. This partnership will not only significantly reduce banana transport times, giving consumers in the Middle East and North Africa access to fresher, lower-cost fruit, but will also aid in Somalia’s economic resurgence.

As part of the agreement, Fresh Del Monte will have operational oversight and train the team on the ground. In return, the global produce distributor will purchase its Somalia bananas supply directly from Moze, the newly established banana farm. The fruit will be sold and marketed under the Fresh Del Monte brand for its markets in the Middle East, with the first Somalia bananas harvest expected in 2024.

“We are pleased to officially announce this partnership, which we believe is a game-changer for the banana industry in the region,” said Mohammad Abu-Ghazaleh, Fresh Del Monte’s chairman and CEO. “The move to reestablish banana operations in Somalia makes sense on many accounts – from its strategic location on the Horn of Africa to fulfilling our mission of supplying our consumers with the freshest produce available – all while aiding in the country’s recovery.”

Before the onset of its civil war in the 90s, Somalia was once a main hub for banana exports in Africa to European and Middle East markets, with production reaching its peak in the late 1980s to early 1990s.

“The Moze and Talc teams are delighted to work with a renowned name in agriculture, such as Fresh Del Monte, to revive the banana cultivation farms in Somaliland. This multi-purpose approach will serve the communities in the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and the United Arab Emirates. Our intent is to build on this partnership in the near future as we look forward to a fruitful relationship,” said Mohammed Aldhaheri, Moze Holding and Talc Investment chairman.

Currently, bananas to the Middle East come from Central America or the Philippines, with average transit times ranging from 20 to 35 days.

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Tractor Beverage Company Welcomes Asif Khalid as COO

Tractor Beverage Company, exclusive creator of the world’s only certified organic, non-GMO foodservice beverages, has welcomed industry veteran Asif Khalid to its executive team as the company’s first chief operating officer.

Khalid brings a vast wealth of beverage category experience to the company and joins its ranks following a 14-year career at 7-Eleven, where he served as director of store innovation. In addition to this leading role at the convenience store giant, Khalid was also the senior category manager of non-alcoholic beverages, senior product development manager of private brands and regional market operations manager. More recently, he was the founder and CEO of Good Gracious Beverages, a foodservice company committed to revolutionizing restaurant & hospitality beverage offerings with sustainable craft drinks designed to increase margins via product and equipment innovations that reduce footprints and overhead.

“Asif is a transformational leader whose experience in the beverage industry promises to catapult Tractor to new heights,” said Kevin Sherman, Tractor Beverage Company’s CEO. “He’s joining an already successful team, and with the inception of the COO role, I’m confident we will go into 2023 the strongest we’ve ever been, with a high-velocity operating model that will empower our team to deliver an unmatched caliber of service to our pouring partners. I’m eager to see what we can accomplish together as the remainder of this year unfolds.”

Khalid’s work at Good Gracious to both develop brand, vision, and strategy for a new-to-market family of beverages and commercialize product and equipment innovations for alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks alike makes him the ideal choice to boost Tractor’s efforts to disrupt the foodservice beverage industry.

“I am thrilled to join the Tractor leadership team and look forward to bringing my experience to this new role to help build on the brand’s success, innovating in the beverage space while creating more value for our customers, partners, and employees,” said Khalid.

As its new COO, a role created specifically to allow the company to leverage his diverse skills, Khalid will apply his knowledge and passion to the next phase of Tractor’s ongoing growth.

Founded with a mission to create better beverages for all, Tractor Beverage Company is the first and only certified organic, non-GMO full line beverage solution for foodservice. Tractor’s handcrafted drinks feature clean ingredients that deliver on taste, functionality, and an innovative consumer experience. Tractor’s vision is to use its beverage platform to expand organic farm practices—and, in turn, lead the way to a more sustainable and flourishing future for restaurants, consumers and farmers.

Tractor was named to Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies in 2021. For more information, please visit drinktractor.com or follow along on Instagram at @drinktractor.

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