Aiming for a compostable snack bag

When I think of salty snacks, I'm not thinking "sustainability." But apparently some consumers of Frito-Lay North America Inc.'s SunChips do -- because the company announced yesterday that, by 2010, it will introduce "the first fully compostable snack chip bag made from plant-based materials." This month the company is taking the first step, using PLA in the outer layer of its 10.5-ounce SunChips snacks bags. "We know environmentally-friendly packaging is a priority for our SunChips consumer,” said Gannon Jones, vice president, marketing, said in a news release. “Today's launch of packaging made with 1/3 renewable materials is an important first step towards having a fully compostable chip bag in market by Earth Day 2010.” Some major news outlets picked up the story, including USA Today, which highlights SunChips in a feature about several sustainable packaging developments.