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Frito-Lay is putting out Sun Chips bags that contain plant-based materials. It’s one more example of the way companies are rethinking how they package their products for the good of the environment.
Frito-Lay announced its plant-based bag last month, and is planning to have a chip bag on the shelves by Earth Day 2010 that’s made of 100% renewable materials and completely compostable.
Where the compostable Sun Chips bag will differ from most other bioplastics is that it can be composted in home composting systems, not just industrial systems that few consumers have access to. Tony Knoerzer, Frito-Lay’s VP of packaging research and development, said he put samples of the 100% compostable bag in his home compost bin, and it was gone in eight weeks.
When questioned why Frito-Lay is slowly adding renewable materials to the bag, starting at 33% instead of jumping straight to the 100% content bag, he explained the barrier is getting the right amount of scale.
“Even if the bags don’t get composted at the end of their lives”, he said, “They have additional benefits: they were made from a renewable, non-petroleum resource and lead to fewer greenhouse gas emissions.”
Food & drinkSnacksSustainability
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From France to Fiji, bottled water brands rely on spring-based provenance to lure customers. And now a newcomer is focusing on a different kind of message: positivity. A Bottle Of, which claims to be Australia’s first Naturally Positive spring water, currently comes in three varieties: wellbeing, love and strength.
Launched by Heidi Albertiri, a flower stylist who believes in the power of positivity, A Bottle Of hopes to lift people’s moods, encouraging them to ‘Sip it – Say it – Absorb it – Feel it – Think about it – Repeat it – Believe it’. Given the size of both the self-help market and the bottled water industry, there’s something to be said for a brand that combines the two.
A Bottle Of is currently sold through a small number of retailers, yoga centres and gyms in New South Wales and Victoria, and the company is actively seeking stockists in Melbourne and Sydney. Furthering its message of positive change, a nickel from each bottle sold goes to Food Water Shelter, a not-for-profit organisation that builds eco-friendly children’s villages in Tanzania.
Ref. http://www.springwise.com/food_beverage/abottleof/
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In these eco-conscious times, the stakes just get higher and higher. Even wine can be more natural than you think. The so-called ‘natural wine’ phenomenon has its roots in France. The big daddy of natural wine was a Beaujolais-based fourth-generation winemaker and chemist called Jules Chauvet, who died in 1989. His exacting approach to winemaking and wine-tasting gave birth to the natural wine movement, which has gathered steam since his death. Paris is the naturalists’ epicentre and there are growing numbers of ‘natural wine’ bars in San Francisco, New York, Tokyo - and London.
The London phenomenon is largely thanks to one leading wine importer, Les Caves de Pyrene. As well as running tasting for the wine professionals, they also run the critically acclaimed wine bar Terroirs which is where most Londoners are likely to have encountered these ‘natural wines’. But Terroirs is not alone; otherwine bars with lists of ‘natural wines’ include Artisan & Vine, and Green & Blue.
The term ‘natural wine’ is a direct translation from the French vin naturel, but it seems to lose something in the journey across La Manche. Douglas Wregg, a director of Les Caves de Pyrene and self-confessed wine naturalist, describes the process simply as, ‘from vineyard to bottle, there’s nothing added in and nothing taken out’.
Ref.
http://www.timeout.com/london/connect/food+drink/blog/150/whats-the-big-stink-about-natural-winer
http://www.lescaves.co.uk/shop
http://www.terroirswinebar.com/wine.htm
EcoFood & drinkRetailSustainability
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We all love dodgily translated ‘Chinglish’, where moisturisers claim to ‘eliminate horniness’ and signs for smoking points read ‘smoking pot’. Unfortunately, Shanghai City officials are on a mission to wipe out these hilarious mis-translations that lend so many ads, signs and menus a whole new meaning. But not in time for the launch of Coca-Cola’s new dairy product, Minute Maid’s ‘Pulpy Super Milky’.
It sounds like just another Chinglish clanger but Pulpy Super Milky and its campaign slogan, ‘My Delightful Fusion Lifestyle’, was actually developed – and named – specifically for Chinese consumers. Not the ones who speak fluent English but the 1.3 billion Chinese who speak little or no English, and who love cute, clumsy, whimsical-sounding English. In other words, Chinglish sells.
The lesson from a naming perspective? Trust your audience – even if it means putting common sense and Oxford English Dictionary to one side.
(Thanks for this one, Nat)
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Campbell’s Help Grow Your Soup™ campaign is aiming to raise money to help maintain farm buildings. Members of the public can vote for one of ten barns (all are either family farms or school farms) that need some preservation work. Campbell’s will work with National FFA (formerly Future Farmers of America) members and alumni, along with community volunteers, to restore the five barns that get the most votes. Plus, for every vote through January 5 next year, Campbell will put $1, up to $250,000, toward agricultural education through FFA.
Ref. http://www.idealbite.com/daily-tip/archives/souped-campbells-help-grow-your-soup-barn-revival
http://www.helpgrowyoursoup.com/
CommunityFood & drinkSustainability
