Texas-based Frito-Lay launches compostable snack bags as part of sustainability plan

Plano, Texas-based potato chip peddler Frito-Lay Thursday introduced an industrially compostable bag as the first step in a four-year eco-friendly plan.

The new packaging is the company’s first step in its goal to design 100% of its packaging to be recyclable, compostable, biodegradable or reusable by 2025.

The bags — which house the chip company’s Off The Eaten Path brand snacks — are made primarily made from non-food, plant-based sources and are currently available at Whole Foods Market locations.

"Everyone can play an important role in bringing positive change for our planet," senior vice president of marketing for Frito-Lay Marissa Solis said in a release. "We see these new, industrially compostable Off The Eaten Path bags as an easy way for consumers to forge a new path forward in creating a world where packaging never becomes waste."

Producing the materials used for these bags creates approximately 60 percent lower GHG emissions than traditional packaging and the technology may be licensed to other companies at no cost to further the use across the consumer-packaged goods industry, company officials said.

To send the packaging to be composted, consumers must sign up on the program’s TerraCycle page, where they are given the choice between mailing in the packaging using a provided prepaid shipping label or dropping the packaging off at a local composting spot.

The packaging is being piloted on specially-marked Off The Eaten Path Chickpea Veggie Crisps and Off The Eaten Path Veggie Crisps, available at Whole Foods.

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