• HVTV
    • The Healthy Voyager Travel Show
    • The Healthy Voyager’s Global Kitchen
    • The Healthy Voyager’s TV Guest Appearances
    • Healthy Voyager Radio
  • Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Beverages
    • Breads
    • Breakfast
    • Desserts
    • Dressings & Sauces
    • Entrees
    • Holiday
    • Kid Approved
    • Sandwiches
    • Sides
    • Snacks
    • Soups & Salads
  • Travel
    • Africa
    • Arctic
    • Asia
    • Australia
    • Canada
    • Caribbean
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East
    • Oceania
    • USA
  • Lifestyle
    • Eco Corner
    • Entertainment
    • Fashion & Beauty
    • Finance
    • Gifts
    • Healthy Voyager Approved
    • Holidays
    • Home
    • Product Reviews
  • Wellness
    • Fitness
    • Health & Beauty News
    • Mind + Body
    • Pets
    • Relationship Corner
    • Parenthood
    • Weight Loss
    • Women’s Health
  • About
    • About The Healthy Voyager
    • Press
    • Work With Me
    • Disclosure and Privacy Policy
  • Services
    • Wellness Coaching
    • Entrepreneurial and Business Coaching
    • Travel Industry Consulting
    • Restaurant, Bar and Food Service Consulting
    • Financial Coaching
  • Shop
    • Cookbooks
    • The Healthy Voyager Holistic Travel Supplement Product Line
    • Healthy Voyager Apps
    • Healthy Voyager Cafe Vegan and Gluten Free Grab n Go Meals
    • Healthy Voyager Merchandise
    • The Healthy Voyager’s Apothecary
    • When Cris Met Kringle
    • Travel Credit Card Referral Bonuses
  • Contact
100K
58K
54K
27K
16K
The Healthy Voyager
The Healthy Voyager
  • HVTV
    • The Healthy Voyager Travel Show
    • The Healthy Voyager’s Global Kitchen
    • The Healthy Voyager’s TV Guest Appearances
    • Healthy Voyager Radio
  • Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Beverages
    • Breads
    • Breakfast
    • Desserts
    • Dressings & Sauces
    • Entrees
    • Holiday
    • Kid Approved
    • Sandwiches
    • Sides
    • Snacks
    • Soups & Salads
  • Travel
    • Africa
    • Arctic
    • Asia
    • Australia
    • Canada
    • Caribbean
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East
    • Oceania
    • USA
  • Lifestyle
    • Eco Corner
    • Entertainment
    • Fashion & Beauty
    • Finance
    • Gifts
    • Healthy Voyager Approved
    • Holidays
    • Home
    • Product Reviews
  • Wellness
    • Fitness
    • Health & Beauty News
    • Mind + Body
    • Pets
    • Relationship Corner
    • Parenthood
    • Weight Loss
    • Women’s Health
  • About
    • About The Healthy Voyager
    • Press
    • Work With Me
    • Disclosure and Privacy Policy
  • Services
    • Wellness Coaching
    • Entrepreneurial and Business Coaching
    • Travel Industry Consulting
    • Restaurant, Bar and Food Service Consulting
    • Financial Coaching
  • Shop
    • Cookbooks
    • The Healthy Voyager Holistic Travel Supplement Product Line
    • Healthy Voyager Apps
    • Healthy Voyager Cafe Vegan and Gluten Free Grab n Go Meals
    • Healthy Voyager Merchandise
    • The Healthy Voyager’s Apothecary
    • When Cris Met Kringle
    • Travel Credit Card Referral Bonuses
  • Contact
  • Eco Corner

Sizing Up Compostable SunChip Bags

  • August 2, 2010
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0

July 16, 2010 Written by Emily Goldstone on yourdailythread.com

Better Bags or Big Business As Usual? Want to greenify your summertime barbeque gathering? Ok, you bring the veggie patties and I’ll bring the chips. Wait, come again?

The Bother With Bags

One obvious environmental downside of eating packaged snacks is wrapping waste. The New York Times Green Blog says it: “Billions of bags hit dumpsters every year.”

SunChips’ Solution

Frito-Lay has launched the first “100 percent compostable chip bag” for its SunChips brand.

We’ve heard that most biodegradable plastics break down into smaller pieces while these bags, made from a bipolymer resin extracted from plant sugar called polylactic acid (PLA), biodegrade fully like food. Via The Chic Ecologist, PLA may also “ lower the impact on greenhouse gasses when compared to plastics due to the fact that it’s made with plants [corn] that grow annually instead of petroleum (which takes millions of years to form).”

The Questions

We’ve got our issues with corn, as well as related agricultural practices that favor GMO seeds and pesticides, but bear with me. The bag is designed to fully break down in just 14 weeks when placed in a hot, active compost bin or pile.

Consider this: the EPA states that 26% of the municipal waste stream going to landfills is organic material that can be composted! So, the idea is that along with your carrot tops and banana peels, you can add your chip bag to the pile.

What We Like

In addition to addressing packaging waste with PLA, the SunChips snack itself is now being made with the help of solar energy at the Modesto, California plant, one of eight locations where Frito-Lay makes SunChips. That’s a green move we can get behind without reservation.

The company is also using its website and cross-promotions to educate people about composting. While the snack bag is certified as “industrial compostable,” the company also provides a downloadable how-to for home composting and real-life photos tracking composting progress; the detailed data is surprisingly transparent.

The Downsides

Some critics have noted that composting a SunChips bags is an impractical task, as most consumers do not compost. According to EPI, in a landfill these bags will biodegrade anaerobically, producing more powerful greenhouse gases than with a conventional bag. Instead, if they end up end being processed in a recycling facility, they could contaminate other plastics.

For those who do compost, consider this: PLA decomposes at over 125 degrees Fahrenheit; some say most backyard compost piles don’t come anywhere near that temperature.

The Verdict

Whether or not this newfound green attitude is a marketing ploy, the fact that a huge corporation is using its resources to create compostable packaging – and planting the green seed in consumers’ minds – is undoubtedly is a step in the right direction.

What We’d Like to See

It would be more convincing if Frito-Lay (and sister brands Pepsi, Quaker, Gatorade and Tropicana) stepped up to the plate to change all packaging over to be easily compostable. Let’s hope that competition in the packaging arena will guide other snack makers to improve on this design.

What Should You Do?

Be sure to look for a Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) logo on certified compostable packaging or check out its website for a complete list of products.

Or, make your own chips to snack on—a waste-free way to still enjoy a tater chip at the barbeque.

Will you choose SunChips over your favorite brand? Tell us if this new packaging will influence your next snack selection!

Related Posts:

  • work
    Developing Your Personal Brand: A Proven 10-Step Plan
  • Expert Tips for Choosing the Right Outdoor Furniture
    Expert Tips for Choosing the Right Outdoor Furniture
  • vegan july 4th recipes healthy voyager
    A Food Forward 4th
  • travel
    Embrace Green Travel: Top Sustainability Ideas for…
  • dumpster
    6 Common Mistakes To Avoid When Renting a Dumpster
  • eagle-brae-sauna
    5 Essential Tips for First-Time Sauna Users
Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Tags
  • bag
  • biodegradable
  • chips
  • compostable
  • debate
  • eco
  • green
  • healthy
  • snack
  • SunChips
  • Your Daily Thread
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton

The Healthy Voyager, aka Carolyn Scott-Hamilton, is the creator and host of The Healthy Voyager web series, site, and overall brand. An award winning healthy, special diet and green living and travel expert, holistic nutritionist, plant based vegan chef, best-selling cookbook author, media spokesperson, sought after speaker, consultant and television personality, Carolyn Scott-Hamilton is a respected figure in the world of healthy lifestyle and travel as well as special diet cooking and nutrition. The Healthy Voyager aims to help people live well, one veggie at a time!

1 comment
  1. Ali says:
    February 9, 2012 at 3:17 am

    I vitsied this page and found very informative knowledge. This post is showing a good approach on this Topic. I really impressed !

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Meet The Healthy Voyager
Carolyn Scott, The Healthy VoyagerHi! I'm Carolyn Scott-Hamilton. I'm a Latina holistic nutritionist, vegan chef, cookbook author, speaker, show host, consultant and healthy travel and lifestyle expert. From video web series and travel articles, to product reviews and healthy, vegan and gluten free recipes, you'll find lots of info for a happier, healthier and greener lifestyle! After all, Life is a voyage, live it well!
Subscribe to My Newsletter
Enter Your Email Address
For Email Marketing you can trust
Shop
Healthy Voyager TV
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
Facebook 100K Likes
Twitter 58K Followers
Instagram 54K Followers
Pinterest 27K Followers
YouTube 16K Subscribers
LinkedIn 0
TikTok 0

Copyright The Healthy Voyager 2025

Input your search keywords and press Enter.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT