About 10 years ago, I was in San Francisco, visiting Frito-Lay’s packaging design firm when I asked the designers: "What is the one thing I can do for you?"
I expected them to tell me something that would make their jobs easier, but rather, they said, "Make your packaging compostable." At the time I thought it was a pipe dream, but today that dream is well on its way to coming true with the recent announcement about SunChips compostable packaging.
Today, the packaging on large bags of SunChips uses 33 percent renewable and compostable plant carbon materials -- instead of petroleum-based carbons, which are not renewable and do not compost. And, our goal is to launch a fully compostable bag on Earth Day 2010.
This announcement continues to get positive reviews in the blogosphere and at environmental sustainability conferences. You can read one such review on Wal-Mart’s Check Out blog, which provides highlights from their fourth annual Sustainable Packaging Expo.
Last week, Tony Knoerzer, Frito-Lay Vice President of Packaging Research, updated industry leaders on the current status and next steps for compostable packaging during a panel discussion at the Greener by Design conference in San Francisco (picture at right). You can read about his presentation on the Green Biz Web site.
"At the conference, the first thing everyone wanted to know was: How did you ever get approval within Frito-Lay to proceed with such an ambitious sustainability project?" Tony told me. "So I showed the attendees the PepsiCo mission statement, Performance with Purpose, and explained how the work to develop a compostable snack bag aligns with the mission’s key plank of environmental sustainability.
"I also explained that the Frito-Lay management team understood that we had gone about as far as we could with conventional technology for recycling and reducing waste -- so we needed to take a leap with new technology to really make a breakthrough. What I like about Frito-Lay is that if you have a big idea and it links to our corporate mission, everyone quickly jumps on board," Tony explained.
I blog a lot about Frito-Lay’s efforts to conserve and preserve our planet, and short of actually taking each of you to our manufacturing plants (which would be fun to do, but not practical), frankly, you have to trust what I’m sharing with you is the truth -- we are committed to reducing our environmental impact and the progress we talk about is real.
And now, you can see what I’m talking about for yourself. Simply touch the packaging on one of the 33 percent compostable SunChips bags, and you can feel the difference. Then, imagine how real it will be for you next year when the fully compostable bag is in market.
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