Sustainable is Good | Where design, lifestyle and packaging meet

SunChips Packaging to be 100% Compostable by Earth Day 2010

Frito-Lay's SunChips (owned by PepsiCo) brand is in the process of converting its packaging to 100% compostable packaging made from corn-based Ingeo PLA. 

The company has already converted one element of its current 10.5 oz SunChips snack bags packaging to PLA and has set the goal of converting its full bag packaging to being completely compostable by Earth Day 2010. 

A move that would represent the first major green packaging conversion of a mainstream brand US food product to compostable packaging.

“We know environmentally-friendly packaging is a priority for our SunChips consumer,” said Gannon Jones, vice president, marketing, Frito-Lay North America.

“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.”

Current snack food packaging has three layers: a printed outer layer with packaging visuals/graphics, an inner layer, which serves as a barrier to maintain the quality and integrity of the product, and a middle layer that joins the other two layers. When the packaging is 100% compostable, it will fully decompose in about 14 weeks when placed in a hot, active compost pile or bin.  NatureWorks LLC is providing the PLA, which is trademarked under the Ingeo name.

To inform consumers about the new packaging initiatives, the brand will be communicating through traditional marketing efforts, including print, TV and digital advertising.  As part of the current packaging change, the front panel of the current 10 ½ oz size SunChips package features a callout, “Renewable materials make up 33% of this bag.”  To communicate the next improvement, the digital strategy includes a video showing how the bag decomposes over 14 weeks.  Also, samples of the 100% compostable material will be distributed at major retailers across the country and as part of a special People magazine ad.

To get their message out Frito-Lay has hired some of the country's best firms including Ketchum and OMD.

The SunChips website already has a whole section devoted to the new compostable bag packaging with a substantial amount of information and well done media elements.

I have to say I am impressed with the detail of the campaign thus far.  Normally the type of material Frito-Lay is making available to everyone is only available to media or press outlets working on stories.  I like how the company is making information about their packaging conversion available as well as making the process educational for consumers.

Niagara Conservation 1.25 GPM Earth Massage Showerhead

For Earth Day 2009 I wanted to feature a product that can make a real environmental difference for people all across the country that worked as good as a "conventional" counterpart and was affordable.  This year's Sustainable is Good Earth Day featured product is the Earth Massage Showerhead from Niagara Conservation.

Niagara Conservation is a New Jersey- based company that produces environmental products for the home.  Their Earth Massage showerhead uses only 1.25 gallons per minute (GPM) of water.  This is an incredibly low number and is nearly 1/2 of what other "low-flow" green showerheads use. 

I like many other people concerned about reducing water use have been using a brass "navy" style showerhead for several years which uses 2.5 GPM.of water.  The Earth Massage uses half the water of my current showerhead.  Normal showerheads use more than 2.5 GPM of water - so replacing a conventional showerhead with the Earth Massage will save even more significant amounts of water and resources. 

In fact Niagara says using their Earth Massage Showerhead  can save up to 7,850 gallons of water annually compared to a standard 2.5 GPM showerhead.  That is a huge amount of water!

The Earth Massage 1.25 GPM showerhead works very well.  Its easy to install and provides a powerful steady stream of water during the shower - there is plenty of pressure.  The showerhead produces a non-aerating spray which means there is less temperature loss as compared to other styles of showerheads.

“We’ve taken the low-flow showerhead concept a step further by drastically reducing the amount of water required for showering without affecting showerhead performance. In fact, we’ve exactly halved the water use of a conventional, low-flow showerhead,” Carl Wehmeyer, executive vice president at Niagara, said.

“This is an important step in making water conservation a part of every household while saving consumers money on their utility bills.”

The company estimates their Earth Massage Showerhead will save homeowners who use electric water heat approximately $186 per year, and those who use gas water heat save about $120 per year.

Conclusion - where do I get one?

I am very pleased with the Earth Massage Showerhead.  I like how the product is well made with a 10 year warranty, saves water and other resources and is very affordable costing about $25.  The Earth Massage Showerhead is available online at www.ItsEasyBeingGreen.com. (There is a 25% discount on all products from this site on Earth Day April 22nd 2009)

Lloyd's BBQ New Greener Packaging Eliminates Paper

In response to consumer demands for greener packaging, Lloyd’s BBQ Company just introduced new packaging for their popular BBQ tubs. Getting rid of the old, throw-away paper sleeve, all dietary and product information is now printed directly on the tub. Lloyd's claims that by making these changes to their packaging they are saving more than 970 tons of wood or 6,000 trees annually.  Pretty amazing - imagine the impact if other companies even made minor changes to their packaging.  

The new tub, which also features “stay cool” handles, making it easier to remove the heated container from the microwave, will continue to be available in five varieties at retailers nationwide.

Lloyd's encourages their customers to see the full impact of the energy savings associated with this paper reduction on the new Lloyd's BBQ tub packaging, visit their website and check out their Environmental Impacts Report.

Revolution in a Bottle How TerraCycle is Redefining Green Business

TerraCycle's CEO Tom Szaky is a person who garners lots of interest from those in green business because he's taken a company and grown it beyond people's expectations and through a number of significant challenges.  Today, TerraCycle is doing very well and continues to diversify its product offerings beyond the plant food and fertilizers that put it on the map.

Szaky's new book Revolution in a Bottle, is of particular interest to anyone looking to go into business for themselves.  He candidly recounts the last few years of challenges and triumphs and how he handled them. 

Unless you regularly read Inc. or know something about VCs or marketing  - Revolution in a Bottle is a fascinating account of how to actually go into business and some of the issues you will inevitably encounter.   Szaky shares how he and some friends created a business idea out of a Princeton dorm room and developed into the TerraCycle we know today.

Starting at the beginning while a freshman at Princeton, Szaky co-founded a company that recycles garbage into worm poop, liquefies it, then packages it in used soda bottles, creating TerraCycle Plant Food. Less than five years later, this all-natural, highly effective fertilizer was available in every Home Depot, Target, Wal-Mart, and more than 3000 other locations. It’s a thrilling entrepreneurial success story - and it’s just the beginning of what makes Revolution in a Bottle fascinating.

In the book Szaky argues for a new approach to business, an “eco-capitalism” based on a “triple bottom line.” Every business, he says, should aspire to be good for people, good for the environment, and (last but definitely not least) good for profits. He shows how the first two goals can (surprisingly) help the third.

Eco-capitalism isn’t a new idea, and many companies brag about being environmentally-friendly. But no one does it as effectively as TerraCycle he says. Szaky and his colleagues figured out how to sell a useful, organic, safe product without charging a premium for it. Their big insight was finding value in things that others throw away, from the triggers on spray-bottles to misprinted cardboard boxes.

Now they’re also reusing garbage to create new products, from bird feeders to tote bags, and even engaging major companies like Kraft and General Mills to sponsor their waste streams. Szaky shows how any business can look at garbage with a fresh eye, and reap the benefits.  We've covered a number of TerraCycle's products and developments on Sustainable is Good.

Revolution in a Bottle is published by Penguin USA and is available at Amazon.com.  Given the subject matter, Penguin printed Revolution in a Bottle on 100% recycled materials (about time they start doing that with more of their titles the book looks great to me).  Anyway - Revolution in a Bottle will appeal to a wide range of readers from those interested in green business, business in general, entrepreneurship, marketing and the environment.

I'd recommend checking it out and then share your copy with someone else its a great read.

Aquafina Lauches new Eco-Fina Bottle

PepsiCo's Aquafina, the nation's best-selling brand of bottled water, is launching the Eco-Fina Bottle, the lightest half-liter bottle of any nationally distributed bottled water brand in the market.

At a weight of 10.9 grams, the Eco-Fina Bottle is made with 50 percent less plastic, eliminating an estimated 75 million pounds of plastic annually. Aquafina is also driving additional environmental benefits by producing the bottle at purification centers where filling occurs and by eliminating cardboard base pads from 24-packs, which will contribute to saving 20 million pounds of corrugate by 2010.

The new bottle features a "rippled web" design that goes beyond aesthetics, ensuring its structural soundness and functionality. The Eco-Fina Bottle will be available in 24-packs and begins shipping to retail outlets nationwide this April.

PepsiCo's move to the Eco-Fina bottle follows a similar move by another bottled water giant in the US Market, Nestle.  Nestle who owns a large portfolio of bottled water brands including Poland Spring, Arrowhead and Ozarka introduced the "Eco-Shape" bottle which weighs 12.5oz and featured similar design enhancements to improve its structure.  Eco-Shape began appearing in Nestle's bottle water in the fall of 2007.

Eco-Fina's launch was carefully orchestrated and a much larger publicized launch than Eco-Shape.  PR firms working on the launch sent preview packs to writers and bloggers (we did not receive one) which included a custom graphic box with three filled bottles of Aquafina water. 

The preview packs have generated some controversy in the blogosphere over their unsustainable nature and the fact they were sent via overnight Fedex service.

Aquafina even posted a video of the new Eco-Fina on YouTube

Boxed Water from Boxed Water is Better

Boxed Water is the latest in water packaging trends from Michigan-based Boxed Water is Better.  The company produces well designed milk carton style boxes for its water.  The cartons are shipped unfilled and filled on demand as needed dramatically reducing transportation costs and environmental impact. 

The boxed water packaging is made from up to 90% renewable resources.  It features a solid white carton with the graphic design done in black creating a sharp, highly effective package design that reads "Boxed Water is Better for the Earth."

The company said the concept for the Boxed Water started with the simple idea of creating a new bottled water brand that was more environmentally responsible and gives back a bit - they found that it shouldn't be bottled at all, but instead, boxed. So they looked to the past for inspiration in the century old beverage container and decided to keep things simple, sustainable, and beautiful.

Boxed Water is Better says their carbon footprint is dramatically lower as the boxes are shipped flat to their filler and filled only as demand is created, opposed to most bottled water companies that ship their empty bottles across the globe to be filled, then shipped back for consumption.

As a comparative example the flat, unfilled boxes they can fit on 2 pallets, or roughly 5% of a truckload, would require about 5 truckloads for empty plastic or glass bottles.

Their cartons can also be broken down to their original flat state, are recyclable in most areas, and will be everywhere shortly. We're also giving 20% of our profits back to the resources our product is composed of - water and trees. Not only does it simply make sense, but we really enjoy supporting water and forestation organizations as it's part of our company's ethos and way of thinking to give back and participate. All that and an over-arching focus on simple and beautiful design that compliments our brand as well as the spaces it's sold and consumed in.

Currently Boxed Water is Better is available at a number of retailers in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area though I wouldn't be surprised to see the concept expanded to other metro areas around the country.

Clemson's Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics

Clemson University this week dedicated the Harris A. Smith Building, home to the Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics, where students and researchers will study not only how packaging is designed and manufactured but also how products will be perceived, marketed and consumed in the future.

The Harris A. Smith Building is the only university program in the country that will bring together packaging science, graphic communication, the materials, environmental science, manufacturing, marketing and psychology disciplines to study packaging methods, said Chip Tonkin, the institute’s director.

The Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics was initially created at Clemson University to exploit the synergies that exist between the graphic communications and packaging science departments. But according to the University, packaging design incorporates much more than the structural and aesthetic elements that typically come to mind: done properly, this process should incorporate a wide range of disciplines, including material properties, structural attributes, environmental sciences, manufacturing, marketing and psychology. As this became apparent, our mission broadened into something that will have a much greater impact.

The institute initially will focus on four areas:

* Designing environmentally sustainable packages;

* Developing electronic films that can be printed on packages to create displays, track shipments or apply environmental or biological sensors;

* Testing the impact of package design on consumer attention, buying patterns, use and disposal in its consumer experience lab; and

* Integrating the multiple steps in package design and construction into a single work flow.

“We think in these four areas we can make a name for ourselves,” Tonkin said. “Nobody has really looked at packaging as a core competency.”

The 28,000-square-foot building is named for Harris A. Smith of Atlanta, former chairman, president and chief executive officer of Smith Container Corp., founded by the Smith family in 1907. He sold the company a few years ago and saw an opportunity to create a global center for packaging innovation by investing in Clemson.

Smith made gifts and pledges of $3.7 million and Sonoco Products Co. of Hartsville $2.5 million for the construction of the building and to launch the packaging institute.

Sonoco Products was recently in the news after it was learned they are the producers of the canister cereal packaging Target is using for its Archer Farms brand of cereals.  The unique cereal packaging caused quite stir within the industry and a wide range of consumer feedback both positive and negative.