I was browsing the Comm296 blogroll when I found Chi Yui Hui‘s post about SunChips’ new 90% plant-based/100% compostable chip bag–the first of its kind! They became available to the masses this month. Chi Yui’s post reminded me of an article from Fastcompany that I read just recently, except this one talk about Pepsi bottles. SunChips is owned by the snack giant FritoLay, which is a division of PepsiCo. No wonder Pepsi is rolling out their new plant-based bottle idea at the South by Southwestern Conference! (See this article for more info!)
The new plant-based bottle will have the same molecular structure as petroleum-based PET so it won’t look or feel any different than regular PET bottles. This is a huge advantage because people don’t react too well to change. FYI, the new Sun Chip bags are a lot louder than the old ones, which kind of turns me off when I want to open one up in a quiet classroom. I heard from my friend that the test run south of the border didn’t fare so well, so SunChips will be switching back to the old packaging.
Pepsi will use material that is already available to them such as oat hulls, patato and orange peels, basically agricultural by-products from Quaker and Tropicana. As for packaging, expect to see distinctive labelling for clear identification. Coca-cola already has about 2.5 million 30% plant-based bottles out on the market, so it will take at least a year for Pepsi to test their new product and build a sustainable supply-chain that uses raw material and waste from other markets. If the tests succeed and people react positively toward the change, then Pepsi will be the first company to introduce this kind of product to the market.