Environmental Leader

SunChips, Frito-Lay’s brand of multigrain snacks, is adding a Green-e logo, a designation from the Center for Resource Solutions used to indicate that a product offsets its carbon emissions, across the full line of SunChips snacks. SunChips says it will be one of the first national consumer packaged goods brands to include the Green-e logo on packaging.

SunChips brand communications will focus around small steps as part of the brand’s Live Brightly campaign. One of the company’s initiatives is the purchase of renewable energy certificates to match 100% of the electricity needed to produce SunChips snacks in the U.S.

The RECs that SunChips brand purchased are part of the PepsiCo REC purchase, announced earlier this year, which matches the purchased electricity use of all of Frito-Lay’s U.S.-based facilities, including those manufacturing sites that produce SunChips snacks. This REC purchase allows the SunChips brand to feature the Green-e logo on its packaging.

Interestingly, at this week’s Carbon Footprint Consumer Products Conference and Expo in Chicago, Rick Kraft, senior engineer for the packaging innovation pipeline at PepsiCo, was there to determine whether his company should start mentioning its emission reduction efforts on product packaging, GreenBiz reports. “We want to know what carbon footprint is, what it means to customers, and whether there will be a standardized label in the future,” Kraft said.
This year Frito-Lay began installing solar concentrators in its Modesto, CA manufacturing facility, one of the facilities that produces SunChips snacks.

Green labels, usually carbon labels, have received a lot of attention recently. A recent study from the UK found that more than half of UK consumers want information about the carbon footprint of the products they purchase and nearly half would switch to brands with smaller carbon footprints.

In July, Carbonfund.org launched a CarbonFree Certified Product label that companies can use to promote their products as being climate neutral.

Carbon Trust rolled out a carbon label program in March and the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has joined forces with the company to take the first step towards introducing carbon labelling for all products sold in shops.

Climate Counts recently released a carbon scorecard for shoppers and some retailers and manufacturers have started their own programs.

A number of other carbon label programs are in the works or already exist from various organizations, including third-party environmental certifications – aimed at specific areas. The Marine Stewardship Council covers seafood; VeriFlora certifies flowers; and Green Seal puts its stamp on government and corporate buying.