Sustainable packaging: Frito-Lay withdraws noisy compostable SunChips bag

David Bellm -- Packaging Digest, 10/5/2010 1:03:04 PM

Frito-Lay is dropping its biodegradable SunChips bag, just 18 months after introducing it. Launched with extensive publicity that highlighted the bag’s 100-percent compostability, the new packaging quickly became the target of negative attention because of how noisy it is.

The bag’s infamously pronounced crinkling sound is said to be caused by the unique molecular structure of the material, which makes it more rigid and therefore louder when manipulated.

Although many people initially applauded the company’s move toward the recyclable bags, public opinion quickly turned against the brand, driving SunChips sales down more than 11 percent over the past year, according to USA Today.

Frito-Lay, however, isn’t abandoning its efforts toward a recyclable bag. The company is dropping the noisy compostable packaging from five of the six SunChips flavors immediately, but leaving the packaging unchanged for the top-selling Original flavor.

The other five flavors will, for the time being, return to the previous non-recycleable packaging. The company hopes to transition all SunChips iterations as soon as possible to a newer, more acceptable compostable packaging that’s being developed.

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Talkback

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My family loves this product, but I have to admit that the new bag deters us from buying the product as frequently as we used to prior to the packaging change. The noise this bag makes is incredibly annoying.

Patrick Dwyer - 2010-5-10 16:23:45 EDT
Everyone wants to go "Green" but no one wants to submit to it. My hat comes off to Frito-Lay for at least trying. Great chips by the way!

BC - 2010-5-10 16:12:51 EDT
That's sad that consumers would stop purchasing this product simply because it created more noise than the regular bag. I guess its true, no good deed goes unpunished..

Vickie Conway - 2010-5-10 15:50:01 EDT

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