Frito-Lay Silences Noisy SunChips Bags

[WashingtonBay]

Frito-Lay Silences Noisy SunChips Bags (http://www.mainstreet.com/article/moneyinvesting/news/frito-lay-silences-noisy-sunchips-bags)

By Seth Fiegerman (http://www.mainstreet.com/category/authors/seth-fiegerman)

http://i.thestreet.com/files/tsc/mainstreet-photos/misc/sunchips-2.jpg Frito-Lay (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101005/ap_on_bi_ge/us_noisy_sunchips_bag) announced Tuesday that it’s getting rid of biodegradable SunChips bags and reverting back to the original packaging in response to complaints that the current bags are too noisy.

The company first introduced the biodegradable bags[/URL] back in April 2009 to appeal to more environmentally-conscious consumers. The bags are made from plants and are supposed to be more compostable, even though some question how eco-friendly[/URL] the bags really are. Unfortunately, while this strategy[/URL] may have appealed to some, it also infuriated many others because the bags made too much noise.

The bags’ critics have been pretty harsh, calling it the “loudest bag ever." In fact, at the moment, there are nearly 50,000 members of a Facebook group called, “Sorry But I Can’t Hear You Over This Sun Chips Bag (http://www.facebook.com/#%21/pages/SORRY-BUT-I-CANT-HEAR-YOU-OVER-THIS-SUN-CHIPS-BAG/116706515038289).” In case you’re wondering, here is what the bag really sounds like.

So it seems that Frito-Lay may have damaged its brand twice, first by producing a comically loud product that annoys consumers and again by earning[/URL] a spot in headlines for having to effectively recall its own bags.

In a statement, Frito-Lay confessed (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101005/ap_on_bi_ge/us_noisy_sunchips_bag) that many of its customers were aggravated by the noise of the bags, saying “We clearly heard their feedback.” As a result, all but one of the six SunChips varieties will now come in standard chip bags that are not biodegradable.

Yet, the drama of the biodegradable chip bag raises a larger question: What is more important to consumers, being green or being quiet?
Earlier this week, the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/business/energy-environment/06noise.html?_r=1) reported that lawsuits have popped up around the country from families[/URL] who live in towns with windmills. These families complain that even though the windmills may help the environment, the constant sound of the blades turning is just too noisy to live near.

For consumers, it seems that noise pollution is more of an issue than any other kind of pollution.

What do you think? Are you more concerned with how noisy a product is than how good or bad it is for the environment? And what are some of the noisiest items that you despise? Tell us loud and clear in the comments section!

[jeezitsjacki]

Ive never noticed the sound of the bad... but I dont eat sunchips that often. I think its a really good idea. I would rather see them come up with an alternative to the noise by adjusting the materials or something rather than go back to the plastic bags.. I think they had a good idea

[WashingtonBay]

If you had bought these particular bags... you'd have noticed. I'm sure of it.



They really are that loud.

[AUEquine]

I can say I thought the bags were INSANELY loud!!! Yes all chip bags are noisy, but the video is true... you can't talk on the phone and so much as pick up the bag of sun chips. I had a bag at the beach this summer and I was trying to clean up while my niece and nephews were taking a nap, just rolling the bag up and setting it on the counter woke them up! And they're not light sleepers!

[WashingtonBay]

Yes... unpleasantly loud to be around... Annoying to be in the same room with it!

[Fork]

I thought the bags were a fantastic, innovative concept. They made me want to support Frito Lay for being so environmentally conscious.

Maybe I'm just weird.

[Remali]

I liked the bags too.... they're just better for the environment.... I'd rather buy them.

[WashingtonBay]

It's a great idea... But maybe loudness isn't a necessary part of the technology, and they'll keep working on it.

[outriding01]

I just don't like Sunchips period, lol. So I don't care what bags they use. I'll stick with my Salt & Vinegar and Cheeto Puffs :).

[TacheteTreasures]

Personally I think recalling the bags is a stupid idea, but then again I'm also going to an environmental college, so I'm obviously going to have a strong opinion about it. If you would rather fill a landfill than hear some extra noise than I think that's pretty selfish. Or there is always the option of don't eat the chips when you have to be quiet, it's not gonna kill you.
Maybe they should make both bag options, so that if we would like to protect the world we live in and still eat the chips, than we may do so

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

I love Sun Chips... but yeah... that new bag is some kind of freakish phenomenon of physics. With a little effort, maybe DARPA can turn it into some new kind of weapon. :)

I don't mind being more environmentally sound, in fact I'm an original Environmentalist. I was a charter member of the Cousteau Society. I had a science project to make methane from garbage in jr high (it didn't exactly work right...). I loved Silent Spring (until I found out it was mostly wrong...).

So many times just calling something "green" doesn't make it so. This is one of those times, I think. This current thing about "composting" everything strikes me as a little misdirected. How much demand is there for compost, really? How many people actually know how to compost correctly? There's a lot of work to get it right, and we still don't need very much of it. Most of these bags will of course end up in landfills. So-called "biodegradable" things don't actually degrade in landfills. Once covered over, it quickly becomes anoxic... and everything stops. In order for bio-degradation to actually happen, things have to be left on the surface and subject to the elements, and get plenty of oxygen. And nobody wants that. Though, it does help with the litter problem because the stuff really does break down and disappear. So that part's good.

I think incineration, with power generation and recapture of exhaust gases, is probably the best long-term solution.

[WashingtonBay]

In the wider scheme of things, one brand of chips having a bio degradable bag isn't going to make a lick of difference for landfill space or the environment. In fact... it might make it worse if people think they can just throw it anywhere because it's biodegradable ;)

But, in the wider scheme of things, I hope they keep working on it, because while plastic at least has the benefit of being inert, it also has the downside of never decomposing. Just from a usage of space standpoint, we should try to limit that kind of waste.

[TacheteTreasures]

If you ask me, everything makes a difference, no matter how small

[WashingtonBay]

OK fine... the chips we buy the most of, come in a paper bag.

http://cdn0.mattters.com/photos/photos/2284571/mission-tortilla-chups.jpg

Bio degradable, and not freakishly loud. :)

[natisha]

I love Sun Chips... but yeah... that new bag is some kind of freakish phenomenon of physics. With a little effort, maybe DARPA can turn it into some new kind of weapon. :)

I don't mind being more environmentally sound, in fact I'm an original Environmentalist. I was a charter member of the Cousteau Society. I had a science project to make methane from garbage in jr high (it didn't exactly work right...). I loved Silent Spring (until I found out it was mostly wrong...).

So many times just calling something "green" doesn't make it so. This is one of those times, I think. This current thing about "composting" everything strikes me as a little misdirected. How much demand is there for compost, really? How many people actually know how to compost correctly? There's a lot of work to get it right, and we still don't need very much of it. Most of these bags will of course end up in landfills. So-called "biodegradable" things don't actually degrade in landfills. Once covered over, it quickly becomes anoxic... and everything stops. In order for bio-degradation to actually happen, things have to be left on the surface and subject to the elements, and get plenty of oxygen. And nobody wants that. Though, it does help with the litter problem because the stuff really does break down and disappear. So that part's good.

I think incineration, with power generation and recapture of exhaust gases, is probably the best long-term solution.You are so right. For something to decompose it has to be exposed to the elements. These things sell because people get a feel good feeling thinking they are saving the planet or whatever.
You want to decrease landfill garbage-ban disposable diapers. Not just the tiny ones babies wear but the big jumbo ones that adults wear. I don't think the people who need to wear those would like them banned & neither would we.
We have some great ski hills here that were once garbage dumps.
Yes, everything makes a difference but sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.

[lovesfortune]

Yes, those bags were LOUD. But I did think it was a good thing for them to come up with. Minus the noise factor.

[peace_baby]

I agree that they were onto something. But the bags were WAY too loud. I had a bag at work and never finished it because every time I went to grab a handful, the whole hospital knew it! Money in the trash. Maybe they'll try to figure out how to make them biodegradable AND quiet.

[outriding01]

I think incineration, with power generation and recapture of exhaust gases, is probably the best long-term solution.

Have you seen the mobile gasification unit Auburn has created? It's really cool, and they're currently testing different materials in it. I got to see it at the Farm to Fuel Summit in Orlando in August and they were running it off woody biomass. I was really impressed... Then again, I wouldn't expect anything less from Auburn ;).

[offgridgirl]

it might make it worse if people think they can just throw it anywhere because it's biodegradable ;)

But, in the wider scheme of things, I hope they keep working on it, because while plastic at least has the benefit of being inert, it also has the downside of never decomposing. Just from a usage of space standpoint, we should try to limit that kind of waste.

Yes and yes....Just because it "says" bio-degradablel doesn't mean you can throw it away anywhere...there is still a process that needs to happen.

Living on an island has the extreme effect for garbage collections and disposal. It is expensive to "throw" things away and it's expensive to recycle them. Both require transportation off island.

I try to re-use, at least twice...paper, plastic bags, glass jars. I go to the dump once every 8 weeks and fill the bed of my truck. Okay I'm going to town to do shopping as well so it isn't a special trip.

The local recycle center provides a place to drop-off/pick-up items that can be re-used. We do crush the cardboard, plastics and metal into square pallet-sized loads for pick-up and recycle off island.

As for noise from windmills....the most we hear is when it's yucky and wet outside...so it doesn't bother me....It's kind of neat to hear.... Noise pollution??? hummmm not when it saves money....
YouTube - Windmill Furling

Here is our windmill "noise" I like it!!:cowboy:

I don't eat Sunchips so I could comment on the noise....You could put them into a different bag???:innocent:

[WashingtonBay]

I agree I would enjoy the sound of my own windmill... Especially on a windy day! Windy days have lots of windy noise. It's putting it to good use, it's energy being made.

I still hope someday you can come down and help us put in a windmill. We'd love it in winter. :)

[FatSpottedAppy]

Those bags are TERRIBLY noisy.. Working as a cashier at a convenience store, I hear it all too often. But I would rather them keep them and people deal with the noise, than go back to the original and pollute the environment more.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Those bags are TERRIBLY noisy.. Working as a cashier at a convenience store, I hear it all too often. But I would rather them keep them and people deal with the noise, than go back to the original and pollute the environment more.

Except it isn't about protecting the environment. It's about letting people feel better about paying more for something. It's like so-called "organic" food. Get people to pay more for same thing (or even lower quality) and yet have them "feel" good about it.

Brilliant.

[cheval]

They need to do that will all bags/wrappers. There is nothing more annoying than being at a movie where there is noisy wrappers. Okay, babies and kids are more annoying but you get the point.

[Remali]

I agree with you FSA, I'd rather have those biodegradable bags and help the environment, and a little more noise.

[jeezitsjacki]

I know you cant all the time, but if your at home you could just put it in a bowl or something.... I still think the noise is worth it

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Those bags are TERRIBLY noisy.. Working as a cashier at a convenience store, I hear it all too often. But I would rather them keep them and people deal with the noise, than go back to the original and pollute the environment more.

But when they pollute the environment just as much as any other bag, as is the case in landfills where most of them will end up, then all the money spent on researching, developing, marketing and producing these bags has been wasted... when all that money could have gone to something that was actually beneficial instead of being just some phony feel-goodism.

I think we should be looking for things that do the most good, for the resources that must be expended to get them, than bother wasting time, money and effort on things that in the end just don't do what they pretend to do.

Sure, these bags are a pretty trivial example. But the same sort of thinking goes into much larger projects with much more at stake. So it can be a mistake to think "oh, it's a little bit better, so we should do it"... when it comes at the cost of things that might be a lot better, that now can't happen.

[Remali]

These new bags are actually supposed to disintegrate completely, so nothing filling up the landfills with the new bags.... Of course I have never sat and watched and put the bag to the test.... ;)

[Suzi]

No sneaking chips with those bags.;)

Seriously, I do like the idea and hopefully they will work on a bit different material. Wasn't there another product that was biodegradable? Was it garbage bags? I can't remember.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

These new bags are actually supposed to disintegrate completely, so nothing filling up the landfills with the new bags.... Of course I have never sat and watched and put the bag to the test.... ;)

At the risk of beating a dead horse... there's some stuff upthread about landfills. The problem is that landfills are anoxic. There's no oxygen down there. Most things that are supposedly "biodegradable" that don't actually degrade at all once buried in a landfill.

I happen to know this guy, Rathje, a professor at Stanford:

Amazon.com: Rubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage (9780816521432): William Rathje, Cullen Murphy: Books

Look down deep in a landfill and you'll find banana peels from the thirties, and you'll find newspapers from 1905 that are still perfectly readable. You'll find yogurt from 1973 that still looks more or less like it did when it was new (not that it's edible... but it's still yogurt). There's loaves of bread that, while mashed up, still look like bread and show ~no~ rot. There's a whole chapter devoted to the "myth of biodegradability".

Basically, "biodegradable" is a lie. It assumes that the thing will be sitting on the surface and exposed to the elements. Once buried in a landfill, any available oxygen is quickly used up, and that means that further breakdown is stopped.

The above book is, by the way, a ~really~ interesting read. Even if you're not interested in cultural anthropology or anything. It's very well done.

[Remali]

How about the landfills that have those.... what do ya call 'em.... "breathing tubes"? For lack of a better word.... we have a landfill not too far from an area where I used to go horseback riding when I was a kid.... interesting how high-tech some landfills are now....

ETA: Not sure I wanna see a banana peel from the Thirties, or a loaf of bread from way back.....LOL. Sounds like an interesting book, I may have to check that out, I was thinking of heading down to Borders Books this week....

[CelestialDreamer]

As noisy as they were, I preferred them. I do my best to recycle all I can here. After moving into a house that people used to throw their garbage over a HILL instead of paying for service I have a new respect for biodegradable stuff. Picking up the years of glass that was down there-was a royal pain. The cans rusted out quickly and did not find any peels of anything or bread or legible newpapers! LOL-but I did find some antique medicine bottles and wine bottles that were cool! It was about 14ft of rusted, rotted, ugh we cleaned up. Some people...

[zoel_222]

I'm with Ragnar on this one. It's a good idea in theory.... but how many people out there are really properly composting these bags? Probably a very, very low percentage. The rest are probably going "Hey, it's biodegradable!" And chucking it out the window and the freeway thinking it'll magically break down because it's outside. Or they just chuck it in the trash hoping it'll break down in the landfill, where it will really just become like any other kind of non-biodegradable trash.

I do my best to take care of the environment. I recycle everything that can be possibly be recycled and I also compost at home.

[WashingtonBay]

I mentioned way upthread... the chips we buy the most of come in paper bags.

http://cdn0.mattters.com/photos/photos/2284571/mission-tortilla-chups.jpg

Biodegradable, renewable resource, not overly noisy. :)

They don't brag about it, they didn't need to put a lot of engineering into it... they just did it.


People love the idea of being green. I think they like to say they care about the environment. But it's not really that hard. And much that people brag about 'doing' isn't really 'doing' anything. Recycling, as we now know it, is a largely wasted exercise. We do it... we do it to save on our garbage costs. But the system and market for handling it has not caught up with the plan.

Temporary food packaging is a heck of a problem. It's probably most of what we throw away. No doubt about it. But that noisy bag was just one not-very-good-idea for reducing it. Hopefully there will be better ones.