My packaging can beat up your packaging!

Our new and improved candy wrappers have finally arrived!

If you've had Barbary Brix caramels up until now, you've been eating them out of a natural, recycled wax paper wrapper. We certainly don't want to diss the lovely, and compostable little guys that have served us so well but they tend to seep a bit of oil, making things a smidge greasy. :(

The good news is that our Innovia Films, custom cut NatureFlex (tm) wrappers have arrived! Innovia is a company that makes a fantastic, sustainably manufactured, compostable film similar to cellophane. It's clear, so you can see the caramel better and it prevents that distracting oily film on the outside. Yay! As if that weren't enough, they are, I'm trying to find a good description...uber-compostable. Basically, not only can you compost them in a municipal compost bin, they would even compost in your home compost in a mere 34 days! Really.

Incidentally, I heard that worms loooooove them. Even fancy worms that wear fancy worm top hats. (Don't worry if you don't follow, that was an Always Sunny reference for that crowd...)

Bet you'd like to, maybe, know whyyyy we are so excited about this? I'll tell you.

Well, for starters, candy packaging is a big contributor to landfill waste. You might think those little wrappers can't make much of a difference but the average American consumes a staggering 23.8 pounds of candy per year according to the US Department of Commerce! (2008, most recent data.) That's a lot of packaging; it adds up, yo. In fact according to a, maybe outdated but interesting 1997 study (Ackerman), food packaging is about one third of municipal waste in the United States. Yikes.

Something else to think about is the environmental impact of manufacturing that packaging... How many food companies disclose that or are they even aware?

Theeeen, and probably more troubling, is the fact that food manufacturing is one of the more significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the US, 20-30%. Whoa. Candy is a big part of that industry and you don't hear much about sustainable food or confectionery manufacturing, now do you...

So, long story longer, as a small part of how we are trying to pay attention to and be responsible for our own environmental impact, we feel really good about using this environmentally low-impact wrapper as a part of our eco-friendlier packaging line-up!! Check back for other posts on the rest of our eco-friendly packaging later... :)

In summary, PLEASE REMEMBER TO COMPOST THESE WRAPPERS!!

Hugs,

Sugar

PS This is an interesting research report for your reading pleasure.