Frito-Lay is making a lot of noise with its 100% compostable bag of Frito-Lay's solar-baked Sun Chips, but not the vocal kudos one would expect from such an innovative technology. In fact, according to The Wall Street Journal, the estimated life-span of a traditional snack-chip bag, which is made of "polymers such as polyproylene and polyethylene," could be as long as 100 years. The new bag, introduced in January, is produced with polylactic acid, "which fully decomposes in about 14 weeks when placed in a hot, active, compost pile."
So what is the shouting about? The new bag is incredibly noisy, so noisy it was recorded at 95 decibels (compared to 77 decibels for an environmentally-non-friendly bag) using a RadioShack sound meter. J. Scot Heathman, an Air Force pilot squeezed the bag and posted the noise on You-Tube, describing it as "freaking loud."
So, it's not surprising there is now a Facebook fan club called, "Sorry But I Can't Hear You Over This Sun Chips Bag," with more than 30,000 fans. And Frito posted at-shelf signs, "Yes, the bag is loud, that's what change sounds like." We understand that a Frito-Lay engineer now confirms he's working on a quieter, crunch-free, biodegradable chips bag.
Yes, change can be a pain, but those are probably the same fans getting their ears blown out with their I-Pod music selections.
