Instead of tossing that bag of Doritos in the trash, consider sending it back to Frito-Lay. It might just get turned into a tote bag.
Frito-Lay has announced that it’s opening 1,000 collection sites in the U.S. for used snack product packaging. For every bag donated, the company will give two cents to your charity of choice. The packaging itself will be upcycled by Terracycle into pencil cases, tote bags, and purses that will be sold in chain retailers like Wal-Mart. Eventually, the bags could be used to make green building materials.
Terracycle and Frito Lay hope that their ambitious program will divert over five million bags from landfills by the end of 2009.
(Read more from Ariel Schwartz blog in Fast Company)
Frito-Lay is not the only company partnering with the company. A year ago, Kraft announced a new partnership with TerraCycle that will invest in the collection of packages that are more challenging to recycle, like its Capri Sun containers and food bar wrappers, turning them into affordable, high quality bags, spray bottles, shower curtains, umbrellas and other consumer goods. Read more about the deal and Terracycle beginnings, in the Good News Network story.
PR stunt. Look into what goes into every bag of chips, and I’m not just talking about the ingredients. Start with checking into who (or WHAT, these days) owns the company, then proceed ……
I’m not buyin’ it.
I don’t think this is going to attract anyone who doesn’t already eat the chips, but it’s a great way of keeping all those junk food junkies from throwing their bags into the trash. Now if we can convince them to eat healthy, that’s a totally different post.