Sun Chip可分解包裝袋上世失敗的省思

SunChips (100% compostable bag)上市十八個月, 黯然下台, 為什麼????

via : USA TODAY, 10/5/2010
Frito-Lay sends noisy, 'green' SunChips bag to the dump

By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY

Frito-Lay is preparing to quietly sack its "green" but noisy SunChips bag.

Roughly 18 months after Frito-Lay, with great fanfare, launched a biodegradable SunChips bag made from plant material that was billed as 100% compostable, the company is yanking the noisy material from the packages of five of six SunChips flavors immediately.

The company is returning them to their former bags that can't be recycled — but won't wake the neighbors — while it works frantically to come up with a new, quieter eco-friendly bag.

The noise of the bag — due to an unusual molecular structure that makes the bag more rigid — has been compared to everything from lawnmowers to jet engines. There's even an active Facebook group with more than 44,000 friends that goes by the name of "Sorry But I Can't Hear You Over This SunChips Bag."

Here Come the Extremely Noisy SunChip Bags

Canadians: Proud Protectors of the Environment Well, that would be my headline. A recent environmental news item both fascinated and amused me. Recently, a colleague and I were discussing surreptitiously eating certain foods at home so that our spouses and children don’t hear us. (Oh, come on. You’ve done it too.) She mentioned that such sneakiness was impossible with a new chip bag that she had brought home—the bag was simply too noisy and made it impossible to remove the chips furtively.

I did a little research and learned about this new SunChip bag, which is not only far better for the environment, but also (yes) very, very noisy. The bag is the result of four years of research, made of a plant material called polylactic acid and is 100 percent compostable (it apparently breaks down in a hot compost pile in 14 weeks).

Isn’t that fantastic? Of course it is…except…

The bag truly is noisy…too noisy for some (“you certainly can’t eat those chips out of the bag while trying to watch television or a movie,” a friend of  mine confirmed). Too noisy, in fact, for U.S. consumers. Because of numerous strong complaints, Frito-Lay is no longer using those bags in the United States. (Frito-Lay sends noisy, 'green' SunChips bag to the dump.)

This news has led to much more media, and Environment vs. Noisy SunChip bags was even covered by The Colbert Report.

And what about us here in Canada? Our concern for the environment exceeds our need for silent snacks, apparently (either that or we’re all a bit hearing impaired.) Helmi Ansari, the sustainability leader for Frito-Lay Canada, says in a video public service announcement that SunChips wasn’t even considering getting rid of the noisy, good-for-the-planet bags in Canada. Moreover, with a wonderful display of corporate sense of humour, Canadians can go to the SunChips Facebook page and request a set of earplugs. (Reaction on that site to SunChips Canada keeping the bags seems to be very positive). Well done Frito-Lay Canada for showing some interest in environmental issues. And more importantly—well done Canada.

So while we Canadians may not be able to quietly eat our chips, we can eat loudly and loudly proclaim our superiority as we make choices that are better for the environment.

Posted: Dec 07 2010, 09:00 AM