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TerraCycle turns your Frito-Lay Wrappers into Chic Tote Bags

May 19, 2009 By: Anna14 Comments

Lays Tote

When I was a kid, I used to love putting Fritos in my peanut butter sandwich. I was so addicted to Fritos that I ate them through college.  My usual college lunch was a tuna sandwich, Fritos, and a diet coke.  Real healthy, right? Heck, I was young so who cared, right?  I must have thrown away hundreds of Frito-Lay packages over my (um) years.  Let’s just say lots of years.

Then as I finished college, my sister and I thought Doritos were amazing. Fritos took a backseat to the new cool kid on the block. After law school, I cleaned up my act and stopped eating chips.  It was either that or I might as well as stapled them to my hips because that is where they were going to land anyways.  You can’t just eat one…

Now I can have my beloved Fritos or Doritos chips anytime without gaining an ounce AND feel good about the environment!  No, Frito-Lay did not invent the calorie-free chip. Thanks to a partnership between TerraCycle and Frito-Lay,  I can sling my chips over my shoulder in the form of an adorable tote bag or use some cool product that will be made up of the bags.  How? TerraCycle will be upcycling all those wrappers to create products! So carry the pounds on your shoulders not your waist, ladies.

Hmm.  You are probably wondering what is upcycling as opposed to recycling?  According to the Frito-Lay’s FAQs about the partnership:

“Upcycling is the process of using waste in its existing form to create new products.  Recycling, by con-trast, breaks the material down (e.g,. a plastic bottle is turned into plastic pellets) so that material can then be reformed into new products.  With upcycling, the waste is simply cleaned and shaped, sewn, or fused into new products, like backpacks, messenger bags, lunch boxes, school supplies, shower curtains, and kites.”

It is not a surprised that Frito-Lay and TerraCycle became partners.  Frito-Lay has made the following environmental commitment:

“Over the past few years, the company’s packaging initiatives have made some significant strides. This includes reducing the amount of plastic in packaging by 10% and over the last five years eliminating 12 million pounds of materials used to make the snack bags. This month, the company announced that in 2010 its SunChips brand will be introducing a fully compostable bag made from plant-based renewable material.  Marking the company’s latest effort, Frito-Lay will be the first snack food company to fund the collection and upcycling of its used packaging,” according to a recent statement by TerraCycle.

Lays BBQ notebook

(Check out the “Lay’s” Notebook!)

TerraCycle, on the other hand, is one of my favorite companies who is constantly upcycling materials into new products. Remember, they are the worm poop people? In the past, I have written about their venture with OfficeMax to create office supplies made out of recycled materials.  My kids are still using their cardboard notebooks!  Check out all their upcycled products.

I am so excited about my old friend’s new look, that I signed my school up to collect all the Frito-Lay chip wrappers, such as Fritos, Lay’s Potato Chips, Doritos, and Cheetos.  For every wrapper that my school collects, Frito-Lay will donate 2 cents to the school. (For more information about the Frito-Lay Bag Brigade, see here.)  I can’t tell you how many kids eat those brands every day.

(Note, this Bag brigade will be our school’s second fundraiser with TerraCycle.  We now collect yogurt cups.  It seems like every week, the yogurt collection box is full.)

Lays 2 pocket folder

(Cool folder, huh?)

According to the FAQs, this program is scheduled to stop the end of 2009.  This would be a crime since my guess is that thousands of wrappers get thrown out every days at schools. So, Frito-Lay, please consider extending your program and adding more opening for other participants.  (Right now there are only five spots left, and hopefully my school took one of those remaining spots.)  Both Frito-Lay’s and TerraCycle’s goal is quite admirable.

“Our goal is to divert more than 5 million bags from landfills in 2009. We also hope to engage all of Frito–Lay’s 48,000 employees and more than 100,000 consumers in this program to raise awareness of reusing and recycling in local communities across the country,” according to TerraCycle.

To be honest, chips are not the healthiest of food and if you are going to buy them consider buying a large bag in which you can provide a number of servings to your children.  Single serving of any food is wasteful even if we are recycling.  I know that people are still going to buy single serving chips or cookies, so thank goodness for the folks at  Terracycle for creating a useful purpose for all those chip bags and Frito-Lay for the forward thinking to partner with a company like TerraCycle .  In this case, someone’s trash, is someone else’s tote bag!

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Anna Hackman is the editor of Green Talk, and owner of The Naked Botanical and a avid (okay obsessed) gardener. She also loves video and podcasting and hosts Green Talk TV and Green Talk Radio. Her most important role is being a mother of four boys.

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Comments

  1. 1

    Elizah Leigh says

    May 19, 2009 at 9:09 pm

    It is so good to see significant coverage regarding the alliance between TerraCycle and Frito Lay. I’m a member of a green social network (www.greenwala.com) and many of my fellow community members have blogged about TerraCycle’s remarkable and continual efforts to reduce what goes into our waste stream. It’s funny that it seems so innovative to us when in fact it is the type of thing that our grandparents and their parents before them did as a matter of practicality and necessity. I think that TerraCycle is setting the standard for a new generation of sensible thinkers who recognize the eco and financial benefit of falling back on the lessons of times past. If anyone is curious to see video coverage of specifically what TerraCycle does to achieve their goals, please paste this address into your browser: http://tinyurl.com/pz6322 It is simple and yet very inspiring.

    Reply
  2. 2

    Condo Blues says

    May 22, 2009 at 5:49 pm

    I remember seeing these types of bags made by people on Craftster. Those bags and Terracycles expanding product line inspired me to save my empty coffee bags and make them into a tote bag. Once I get the technique down, I’m going try turning my husband’s old tyvek race numbers into a shopping tote.

    Reply
  3. 3

    Beth says

    May 23, 2009 at 12:59 am

    I am a peanut butter and frito lay person myself. Although I have eaten so much since I was a kid I can’t eat much of it anymore. I love the bag. I love the upscyle and recycle of everything. I also create school folders out of cereal boxes. Great article. Thanks

    Reply
  4. 4

    Charles says

    June 2, 2009 at 12:44 am

    I saw a piece about this company on 60 minutes. Recycling at its finest. How do you like thesis?

    Reply
    • 5

      Green Talk says

      June 2, 2009 at 10:55 pm

      Charles, Love thesis. Great forum for help and lots of people are creating tutorials on how to change items on the theme. Great community. Well worth the money. PS how are you feeling? Anna

      Reply
  5. 6

    carry tote bags says

    June 30, 2009 at 7:36 pm

    I love this Lay’s bag. It proves that we can use something that we’d usually put in the trash bin. I think bags like this would make really good carry tote bags. People who use them get to help save Planet Earth as well.

    Reply
  6. 7

    Where to Purchase Frito Lay items says

    September 5, 2009 at 8:11 pm

    I want to purchase some of the Frito Lay recycled items but I can’t find them.
    PLEASE HELP!!!!

    Reply
    • 8

      Green Talk says

      September 6, 2009 at 2:28 am

      I don’t think they are out yet. Check periodically on the TerraCycle site. Anna

      Reply
  7. 9

    Niamh says

    December 5, 2010 at 11:05 am

    Hi. I am currently doing a school project on upcycling and recycling. I really like your pictures, and was wondering if I could use some of them for my final project.
    Thank you, please reply.

    Reply
  8. 10

    Karen says

    August 7, 2013 at 1:44 pm

    I bought one of the 2 pocket folders at Target 3 years ago. It has been used by my teens for 3 years and is still in one piece, but may be on it’s last leg. I would like to purchase more, because they are the most durable product, as well as saving our environment. Where can I get them or order them? Thank you!

    Reply
    • 11

      Anna@Green Talk says

      August 15, 2013 at 1:11 am

      Karen,

      Terracycle now has a store. I think the Ruffles folder is what you are looking for. See http://www.terracycle.com/en-U.....ducts.html Anna

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. TerraCycle and 3M Partner to Recycle Tape Dispensers | Green Talk™ says:
    October 22, 2009 at 11:34 am

    […] this entreprenuerial groups of lads and lasses can dream up…They collect yogurt cups, FritoLay’s potato chips bags, Nabisco wrappers, and assorted other items that we ordinarily just flip into the garbage.  (I […]

    Reply
  2. Applying the principles of “Reuse” in your marketing — Sustainable Marketing Blog says:
    April 13, 2010 at 5:11 pm

    […] Food packaging as book covers or tote bags […]

    Reply
  3. Are Recycled Plastic Bottles Products Really Eco Friendly? | Green Talk™ says:
    September 27, 2010 at 11:48 am

    […] have always been a fan of companies such as Terracycle, which take our trash and create usable products.  But when I reflect on what wonderful work they are doing, I have to wonder is this a band-aid […]

    Reply

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