All That Noise For Nothing

I could hardly believe it when the boys came in and told me what the girls had dug up in the compost pile. And I mean from deep in the compost pile…

Last summer there was all kinds of talk about the new SunChips bag. And it wasn’t good… Everyone HATED the horrible noise it made! I could not imagine how a bag could possibly make such a sound as to generate that much animosity. So I went out and bought one for myself… They were right! That single SunChips bag made enough noise to wake the dead!!!

So why all the noise??? In order to have a compostable bag. The package made the claim that the bag would be completely composted in 14 weeks. Our bag made it into the pile the first week in August, about 28 weeks ago. Here’s what it looks like this morning…

Yup, pretty much what it looked like way back in August. Well I guess it was a little more dirty and wrinkled…

As you can see, the rest of my “garbage” has turned into lovely rich compost (and some of it has only been there about a month). So what’s up SunChips???

I went to the SunChips website to do some research. Maybe I misunderstood the timeframe of total compostability??? Nope, it’s 14 weeks. But I guess my pile doesn’t maintain the necessary +130 degrees that is needed to break down the bag.

But I did notice something else at their website about these lovely new bags… “For now, because we're committed to composting, we will continue to use the current 100% compostable packaging on specially-marked 10 ½ oz. bags of our Original flavor SunChips® snacks. All other flavors will transition back to traditional packaging while we put the finishing touches on the next generation of compostable bags. SunChips® snacks in traditional packaging will begin to appear in stores in late-September to early October.

Why are we making the change? - While there was a huge amount of enthusiasm surrounding the launch of our compostable SunChips® bag, we've also received feedback regarding how the new packaging has affected the consumer experience, including its noise. In response, we’re taking steps to improve our 100% compostable bag in order to address your concerns. We have several new compostable package options in the works that look promising and look forward to introducing the next generation compostable bag to consumers in the near future.”

So, we obviously weren’t the only ones who were adversely affected by the horrible crinkly sound. I have to say, thanks for listening SunChips! I’m sure my ears and my compost pile will appreciate it!