October 6, 2010 - The Curse of the Deafening Compostable SunChips Bag.

There I was; minding my own business, shoving my hand into French Onion deliciousness, driving north on the 5 Freeway when it hit me - this bag of SunChips is ridiculously loud. Even with my stereo and the open sunroof the crackle and crunchy cacophony of the new compostable bag was too much; but why?

Now, I knew it was loud and sure I was a bit more careful the next time I drove my hand into the bag but I was willing to sacrifice knowing that this bag wouldn't be sitting in a landfill for the next 50 years - Frito-Lay apparently wasn't as forgiving. The bags, which were introduced last March, are being pulled from the market because they're too loud.

And I thought it was just my karma for stealing the bag from my Mom's cupboard (sorry Mom).

It seems I'm not alone either - In this Vimeo video, a citizen scientist amusingly uses a decibel meter to test exactly how loud the bag is (95 decibels) and concludes it's louder than a jet cockpit and might cause hearing damage. There's even a Facebook group called "Sorry, But I Can't Hear You Over This Sun Chips Bag" with 44,000 members.

There is a lot of science and marketing behind the packaging of the products we as consumers purchase and this biodegradable bag is no different. For those of us who are curious; here's the reason:

"Created from a polymer material based on corn starch, the bags were cursed with a high glass transition temperature. Basically, all polymers have a rubbery state and a stiff state, and each type of polymer switches from floppy to crunchy at a different temperature. For the Sun Chips bags, that was, unfortunately, around normal room temp—so what was supposed to be flexible was constantly turning brittle. And loud."

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/10/05/turns-out-america-li.html