The Flexible Packaging Association announced Robbie Manufacturing as winner of the 2009 Gold Award in Environmental and Sustainability Achievement. The prestigious award was presented at the 2009 Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards in Naples, Fla., on February 25, 2009.

The award recognizes Robbie’s Hot N Handy Bio-Pouch as the most advanced sustainable solution for fresh-prepared sandwiches in the market today. Hot N Handy Bio-Pouch was developed to replace the Rigid Polystyrene Hinged Containers commonly used in the cold case at retail locations for fresh-prepared sandwiches. Compared to rigid polystyrene containers, the Bio-Pouch uses 92% less crude oil, reduces CO2 emissions by 56% and reduces packaging material waste, by weight, 75%.

About 4 million pounds of garbage is produced by the preparation and delivery of 163 million deli sandwiches into the hands of consumers. According to the International Dairy Deli Bakery Association, deli sandwiches totaled $912 million at a cost of $5.50. Those numbers convert to an estimated 163 million supermarket deli sandwiches – all sold in some kind of wrapper or container that later required disposal.

Robbie also honored with Gold Award in Packaging Excellence

So impressed were the judges with Robbie’s advancements in packaging sustainability, they went beyond standard protocol to honor Robbie with a Gold Award in Packaging Excellence. This Award took Robbie by surprise since the Hot N Handy Bio-Pouch was not submitted in the Packaging Excellence category. According to Irv Robinson, Owner and CEO of Robbie, “This award marks the second consecutive year that the FPA has made the decision to give us an award in Packaging Excellence – we were again very surprised and truly honored.”

The Hot N Handy Bio-Pouch recently introduced to the marketplace has a built-in gusset which allows for various sizes of sandwiches to fit into one pouch, thus eliminating the need to stock multiple SKUs for each sandwich. The pouch has a clear resealable adhesive strip for easy open and closure to store leftovers. The slimmer profile of the Bio-Pouch versus the rigid Polystyrene container allows for space saving refrigerator storage. Just peel off the strip to reveal the adhesive and fold the top flap down to seal in the freshness of the sandwich securely, to fit any size sandwich.

The added benefits of this flexible package clearly demonstrates an advantage over rigid containers in it’s ability to save fossil fuels, reduce weight of solid waste being introduced to landfills, along with providing a more consumer friendly package.

The film is manufactured from renewable wood-pulp (trees) and Certified to meet ASTM D6400 composting norms (suitable for both Industrial and Home composting situations). Since the film is made from wood-pulp it will naturally absorb moisture providing increased freshness and less soggy bread.

The consumer is informed of the benefits of the biodegradable/compostable features of the Bio-Pouch with a random 4-color repeat print indicating that the sandwich they have just purchased is packaged in a pouch which will degrade and go “Back to Nature”.

Robbie Manufacturing is a leading flexible, customized packaging supplier to the supermarket and food processing industries in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

For more information on Robbie products or sustainability efforts, readers are invited to contact: