PLANO, Texas, Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- SunChips, Frito-Lay's popular brand of multigrain snacks, announced today the inclusion of the "Green-e" designation across the full line of SunChips snacks. The updated packaging will feature the Green-e logo, a designation from the Center for Resource Solutions used with certified renewable energy certificates. The Center for Resource Solutions is a national non-profit that administers the Green-e program, and works to increase the amount of renewable energy used world-wide. The SunChips brand will be one of the first national consumer packaged goods brands to include the Green-e logo on packaging.
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"Including the Green-e on the SunChips line of snacks gives the brand an opportunity to communicate its commitment to support green energy, and hopefully will remind and encourage consumers to take their own small steps to make our world a brighter place," said Gannon Jones, vice president, marketing, Frito-Lay North America.
SunChips brand communications will focus around small steps as part of the brand's "Live Brightly" campaign. One of those small steps is the support of green energy through the purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs) to match 100% of the electricity needed to produce SunChips snacks in the U.S. Electricity is one source of energy used to produce SunChips snacks.
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 US-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. The purchase of RECs helps drive the development of additional renewable energy capacity.
Energy conservation has long been a strategic initiative for the company. Since 1999, Frito-Lay's total fuels consumption per pound of snacks has been reduced nearly 24%, electricity consumption per pound of snacks has been reduced 21%, and overall water consumption per pound of snacks has been reduced 35%. Frito-Lay continues to add to its energy conservation programs and this year the company began installing solar concentrators in its Modesto, CA manufacturing facility, one of the facilities that produces SunChips snacks. Once completed in early 2008, this facility's solar concentrators will harness the power of the sun to reduce the amount of natural gas used to make snacks, including SunChips.
The SunChips brand "Live Brightly" campaign recently launched to inspire personal well being and is being supported by print and TV advertising developed by Juniper Park in Toronto, Canada.
"The inspiration for the 'Live Brightly' campaign came from the simple yet powerful idea that small steps can add up to have a positive impact on your life as a whole," added Jones.
Originally introduced in 1991, SunChips snacks are available in Original, Harvest Cheddar, French Onion, Garden Salsa and now Cinnamon flavors. The multigrain snacks provide whole grains from a blend of corn, oats, rice and wheat and its packaging carries the FDA heart health claim "diets rich in whole grain foods and other plant foods, and low in saturated fat and cholesterol may help reduce the risk of heart disease." SunChips snacks are also made with sunflower oil, an oil often recommended by nutrition experts because it is low in saturated fats and high in mono- and polyunsaturated fats.
The SunChips brand's Green-e packaging is part of PepsiCo's continued efforts in the area of Environmental Sustainability. Defined as Performance with Purpose the company's responsibility is to continually improve all aspects of the world in which we operate -- environment, social, economic -- creating a better tomorrow than today.
Frito-Lay North America is the $10 billion convenient foods division of PepsiCo, which is headquartered in Purchase, NY. In addition to Frito-Lay, PepsiCo divisions include Pepsi-Cola, Quaker Foods, Gatorade and Tropicana.
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