DailyDirt: Nicer Packaging For The Stuff We Eat

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Food packaging technology has come a long way from tin cans and glass containers. Packaging material is thinner and lighter and keeps food fresher for longer. And now that some plastics can be more easily recycled or composted, there are nifty new containers that could be slightly more environmentally friendly. Maybe food packaging hasn't been perfected just yet, but here are some interesting examples of progress in food distribution.

• It took three years to develop a successor to the ubiquitous ketchup packet. Maybe they should have also designed ketchup dispensers for mini-vans that just attach to the back of the headrests. [url]
• Someday kids won't know what a cereal box is -- because cereal will come in bags? And while cereal makers are trying to improve their packaging, how about making those bags compostable, too? [url]
• Compostable packaging is supposed to degrade. This seems like a job for Mythbusters, but it would take some patience to verify that a SunChips bag actually decomposes over 13 weeks. [url]
• To discover more food-related links, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: cereal, compostable, food, ketchup, packaging
Companies: heinz, sunchips

DailyDirt: Saving The Planet By Using Better Packaging

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Petroleum-based plastics have been getting a bit of bad publicity recently, as "greener" plastics made from renewable plant materials are becoming more cost effective. It also doesn't hurt that these new plant-plastics can perform about as well as traditional plastics in a variety of consumer packaging. Here are a few examples of some environmentally-friendly containers.

• Pepsi has created a 100% plant-based plastic bottle, trumping Coke's environmentally friendly bottle that contains only 30% plant materials. The new Pepsi bottle will go into pilot production in 2012 -- right before the world ends, anyway. [url]
• The first version of the biodegradable SunChip bag -- which was apparently unbearably noisy -- has been replaced by a new plant-based bag that isn't so loud. The real question, though, is when will they make a bag that you can just eat after you're done with the chips...? [url]
• Coca-Cola has licensed its ("only 30% plant") PlantBottle bottles to Heinz for ketchup containers. So does that mean Pepsi will resell its 100% plant-based bottle for Hunt's ketchup bottles? [url]
• To discover more interesting science-related stuff, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: bioplastics, consumer packaging, petroleum, plastics
Companies: coca-cola, heinz, hunt's, pepsi