The Energy Bar Wrapper Dilemma

Whether cycling the length of the Pacific Coast or hiking the backcountry, being active outdoors burns energy. And what better way to replace those incinerated calories than with an energy bar? Sweet but lightweight; those compact loaves of whole grains, protein and fiber come close to being the perfect power snack. But with power comes responsibility. To maintain freshness and a long shelf life, energy bars are packaged in a way that makes them unrecyclable, which means each time you recharge your engines with an energy bar a landfill will grow by one more wrapper. So what’s an active nature lover to do?

Prior to 1990, energy bar wrappers were less of a threat to the environment because fewer people were buying them. Mainstream consumers viewed the bars as just another bland athletic product at health food stores. But as more flavorful bars gained distribution through supermarket and convenience store chains the market turned in the industry’s favor. Sales of energy bars rose from less than $200 million in 1997 to more than $1 billion in 2003. Now, every year millions of energy bar wrappers end up in landfills around the country.

In order to provide the barrier crucial to maintaining moisture and preventing outside contamination, most energy bar wrappers are made from two layers of flexible polypropylene plastic with a layer of aluminum sandwiched in between. Although this packaging keeps the bars fresh and safe to eat, it is neither practical nor cost-effective to recycle. When the EPA looks at a new product or material to recycle, it asks itself one question: will the recycling of this product provide an environmental benefit greater than the environmental cost of its recovery? The answer with energy bar wrappers, unfortunately, is no.

Energy bar wrappers (which are put in the same category as candy bar wrappers) are not generated in large quantities in any one particular place, making collection inefficient and costly relative to the value of the materials collected. There is a lack of demand for wrappers because they can’t be used as a secondary fiber like other types of paper, such as coated magazines pages. In addition, energy bar wrappers are lightweight, which means they take up a lot of space for very little mass. They are also difficult to separate from other products at recycling facilities, where they tend to blow around, contributing to litter problems.

“There aren’t very many, if any, recycling facilities that recycle flexible plastic – there just isn’t the volume out there in any one municipality that they can collect enough wrappers to do anything with,” says Dean Mayer, a spokesperson for Clif Bar. But outdoors enthusiasts don’t have to wait until eco-friendly wrappers are invented to snack guilt-free on the trail. Several options exist for those who want to remain environmentally responsible without sacrificing their favorite trail food.

The first option is to do a little research. Some energy bar companies are trying to be as sustainable as possible. For example, in January 2008, Clif Bar and Balance Bar teamed up with eco-friendly innovator TerraCycle to form The Energy Bar Wrapper Brigade – the nation’s first used wrapper collection system. Participants in the Brigade are sent four postage-paid collection bags that they return to TerraCycle filled with 200 wrappers each. For each wrapper the participant sends in, Clif Bar donates two cents to the charity or school of the participant’s choice. The collected wrappers are then fused and woven into a material that is used to make backpacks and other accessories to be sold at participating retail outlets such as Target.

Although it’s free and almost effortless to become part of the Brigade, wrappers are still being produced. But for those who are willing to put in a little elbow grease, they can be eliminated altogether.

Matisse and Jack’s, a start-up out of San Francisco, sells bake-at-home energy bar mixes that are packaged in recyclable, compostable cardboard boxes. Half an hour’s work will produce about a week’s worth of energy bars at a price that would only pay for two competing bars at the store. But you do have to go to the store or order the mix online to get it, which means it’s being shipped all the way from California, burning precious fossil fuels.

For the most hardcore, sustainability-minded outdoors enthusiasts, the eco-friendliest way to feast on the trail is to create your own energy bar recipe and bake it from locally grown organic ingredients. There are several recipes floating around the internet to get you started. But, like most things that are delicious and require baking, the ability to follow directions is required.

Familiar with their target market’s desire to leave no trace behind, energy bar companies are in a race to develop the first recyclable wrapper. “We are continually searching the world to find a recyclable solution to energy bar wrappers,” says Mayer, “but for now the interim solution is to just get them out of landfills.”