A coworker just drew my attention to the news that Frito-Lay is removing the much-touted compostable SunChips bag (in fact, I touted it on this very blog!) on five of the six flavors because... it's too noisy. Observe the evidence:
There's just one sad little group saying screw the noise, we'll put up with that for the sake of the planet.
This is an extremely difficult dilemma for Frito-Lay. On the one hand, they attempted something very innovative, and built significant awareness of the need for packaging to be sustainable. But this is also a good example of the challenge of implementing change in a behemoth organization, with an established brand. Perhaps if a new upstart brand had launched the compostable bag, it could have made the noise factor its hallmark and forced other competitors to adapt.
At the end of the day, in the for-profit world there cannot be environmental sustainability without economic sustainability.
It's a shame that the environment loses, for now, however hopefully this will push Frito-Lay to develop something more quiet and even more green in the near future.
