Finally! Some Green Packaging

While individual are trying to be as 'green' as possible, corporations have been slow adopters. However, things seem to be changing. Recently two major corporations, Frito Lay and Puma AG, announced packaging that can be composted, recycled or reused.

Frito Lay's SunChips Bag

Frito Lay's revolutionary chip bag, which according to the company, fully decomposes in 13 weeks, took four years of research and trials. Currently, most snack food makers, including Frito Lay, use polyolefin a material derived from petroleum by-products for their packaging. While this is cheap and keeps the snacks fresh, it does not decompose, adding to our already polluted landfills.

The new bag, utilizes Polylactic acid (PLA), a plant-based product that not only decomposes but is made from plants that can be re-grown every year, unlike Petroleum which takes millions of years to form. While this is a great step in the right direction, the packaging is being used only for the 10 1/2oz bags of SunChips, a very small segment of the snack food company's products. We do hope they extend it to everything they make soon!

Puma's 'Clever Little Bag'

Puma's 'Clever Little Bag', which comprises of a single sheet of cardboard in a reusable bag, is even better. It does not only help the environment by being reusable and recyclable, but also, reduces 10,000 tons of carbon emissions a year.

That's because the company estimates that between manufacturing and transportation, it will save 1.5mm liters of petroleum. And that's just the beginning - It will also reduce the amount of paper used by 65%, save 1mm liters of water and reduce plastic use by 275mm tons a year, because the clever bag will not need to be placed inside a plastic one, every time a pair of shoes is sold. Sounds like a win-win situation for everybody. As for the consumer, besides feeling good about not throwing away large shoe box, he/she will be the proud owner of a spiffy shoe bag!

Hopefully, other large corporations will realize going 'green' will not only benefit the earth, but also help them earn more money. Happy Earth Day!

sources:fritolay.com, gizmag.com