Good For You,
Great for the Planet
Why Our Sustainable Efforts Matter
Compostable
Reduces Waste
Eco-Conscious
Cost Effective
Biodegradable
Leading the Way with Earth-Friendly Packaging Solutions
Beginning in the Summer of 2025, we began our transition away from traditional single-use plastics within our FRESHEALTH product line. The transition did not and will not impact the integrity of our products, our school offerings, or our prices.
Effective now, all of our products previously packaged in plastic bags are now packaged in a baggie with enhanced biodegradation! The new baggie will biodegrade in typical landfill conditions within 10 years. Additionally, all our products previously packaged in plastic cups have transitioned to compostable cups.
This is great news for not only our company’s environmental footprint, but also for the schools we serve, this industry, and most importantly, our planet. By continuing to make more sustainable changes, we could divert more than 945,000 pounds of traditional plastic from landfills annually.
To ease the burden of questions you may receive from your team members, teachers, and school leadership, we have put together a communication toolkit, with copy & paste ready verbiage, answers to FAQs, and more.
Biodegradable Bags
We have officially begun the transition away from traditional plastic baggies to a new film packaging with enhanced biodegradation. This innovative material is designed to break down in typical landfill conditions within 10 years - well before today’s first graders graduate high school! Comparatively, it takes hundreds of years for conventional plastics. Even better, no special disposal is required; schools can simply toss the baggies into their normal waste streams. This sustainable shift impacts 94.3% of our single-serve produce offerings for schools, making it one of our most impactful packaging updates to date.
*According to the ASTM D5511 standard, testing has shown that the film achieves approximately 100% degradation within 10 years (3,684 days).
Compostable Cups
We have replaced all single-serve plastic cups with fully compostable cups—developed in partnership with Eco-Products as a first-to-market solution. These cups offer maximum environmental benefit when diverted into compost waste streams, but can also be safely disposed of in regular trash if composting isn’t available. This change covers 5.7% of our single-serve produce offerings for schools and complements our broader effort to reduce the environmental impact of our packaging.
Why it Matters
The new packaging will not affect our product offerings, affect the shelf life of our products, or raise our prices. This milestone also represents a major step forward for the industry. We're proud to be setting a new standard for foodservice and fresh produce packaging.
Resources
For Schools:
For our Distributors:
In the News:
Other Initiatives in Action
Organic Waste Diversion
We’re proud to put our produce scraps to good use. Through our partnership with a local dairy farm, we send food waste to be repurposed as nutritious feed for cows—giving it a second life instead of ending up in a landfill. So far, we’ve diverted over 375 tons of waste, and we’re just getting started. By dewatering and compressing produce scraps, we drastically reduce their volume, making transport more efficient and our waste management more sustainable.
Water Effeciency
We’ve upgraded our wash systems to enhance resource efficiency and reduce our environmental footprint. As part of this improvement, we’ve implemented systems that filter and recirculate wash water, allowing us to extend its use across multiple cycles. This not only conserves a significant amount of water but also supports our commitment to sustainable operations. By optimizing how we use and reuse water, we’re minimizing waste, lowering our impact, and ensuring our processes are as eco-conscious as the produce we provide.
Community Partnerships
Through our involvement in the USDA’s Local Food Purchasing Agreement (LFPA)/ Ohio CAN Program, we’ve integrated new Franklin County farmers into our operations and distributed over 103,400 pounds of Ohio-grown produce across the state. This program supports local producers by providing the capital they need to scale their businesses, while also delivering fresh, nutritious food to nearby communities. By sourcing from local farms, we’re not only strengthening Ohio’s food system—we’re also reducing transportation distances, cutting down on fuel use, and lowering CO₂ emissions.
Frequently Asked Questions
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There is no significant difference in shelf-life, durability, or food safety. Our new packaging has been rigorously tested to ensure it offers the same level of barrier protection and maintains the same quality of produce as our previous packaging.
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The compostable cups require diversion to a compostable waste stream to break down with its maximum environmental impact. We recognize that access to commercial composting facilities, as well as a district’s capacity to operate a composting program, can vary. These cups can still be disposed of in a normal waste bin and will still compost & return to the earth at a much faster rate than traditional plastics would. For more information, please reach out to us at LTota@dnoproduce.com
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There are no changes to our packaging sizes. We continue to offer a wide variety of pack sizes to meet schools’ needs.
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No, our prices and pricing practice will remain the same. Our transition to sustainable packaging is the culmination of a multi-year effort to align our operations with our sustainability goals. DNO is absorbing the initial costs of this shift because we are committed to our goal of providing environmentally friendly packaging without compromising affordability for our customers.
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No, our customers will not experience any changes to the packaging process or delivery times.
