Today at the grocery store I was trying not to buy crackers or packaged granola bars. See, I've been inspired by Micaela Preston's fantastic book, Practically Green, which I will be reviewing on this site this week. As a preview, Micaela encourages readers to not buy packaged snacks, but to make them ourselves.
But then I walked by the snack aisle, and saw it. The Sun Chips bag! I quickly shoved it in my cart. Now, I know they aren't healthy. I know they come in a crinkly bag (Michael Pollan says no to crinkly bags!). BUT---
The bag is 100 percent compostable! It will go away in my very own compost bin! How incredibly cool is that? Not one brand at our local co-op has a bag that does that. Not one brand in the healthy food section of our grocery store does that. This is truly revolutionary, and now that the technology exists, all our plastic bags should be made this way (if it is a sustainable practice-- which remains to be seen).
I still agree that we should eat less processed foods of course. And I will keep trying. But most Americans won't make crackers from scratch, or stop eating food from crinkly bags. So they all need to be compostable. Hats off to Frito-Lay for making this bold move. Now please do it with all of your snacks. And you natural food brands? Organic brands? Step it up. Frito Lay has now set the bar for compostable bag packaging-- and everyone else needs to meet it as well. Excessive, irresponsible plastic use in packaging should be a thing of the past.
I'll step off my soap box now. And I've really eaten enough SunChips for one day. Thank god they are almost gone, and I promise, it will be stovetop popcorn or homemade something or other tomorrow.
PS- I'll put the bag in the compost and let you know how it turns out.
7 comments:
I'm just starting to compost! I am so excited! I can buy chips!
Pretty Cool!
I am all for reducing waste especially plastic, but I am worried about an unintended side effect of these compostable "plastics". I had been so excited about an organic coffee shop which opened near us and applauded their use of biodegradable utensils and cups, but they are made from corn as are many many products. My concern is two fold: 1 my son has a corn allergy, 2 we are still subsidizing corn in this country. I think you're intention to not buy packaged snacks is best...and hope the industry can find a different source than corn for our biodegradable products.
Excellent and exciting news. Kudos to Fritos! I support another brand of all-natural skin care products - LifeLogic that packages their antibacterial wipes in a box made from recycled materials and that they are biodegradable/compostable/flushable.
Yes the technology is here and its about time!!
Great blog. I will connect on Twitter.
We should always buy product for our kids that come in non toxic packing to be on the safe side.
Flynngal, you are sooo right! I just watched some of King Corn (before I fell asleep) and know that we are eating too much corn-- especially genetically modified corn in all sorts of products. Thanks for the reminder. I am a grocery store marketers dream, though. I must control my impulses for salty treats!
Ditto, stay away from the modified corn...
Thanks for your support for the new SunChips compostable bag. If you’d like to learn more about the packaging or how to compost it – please visit www.sunchips.com or become a fan of us on Facebook – www.facebook.com/sunchips.
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