New Friends, Healthy Snacking & Going Green

Last week, I had the honor of heading to Dallas with ten of the most popular bloggers (including ME!  I’m popular!  WHOO!!!) to tour the Frito Lay plant and learn about their commitment to healthy snacking, the planet and how their operations are run.

I’ll start with the list of talent I got to hang with at this event-

• Katja Presnal: Skimbaco Lifestyle

• Andrea Deckard: Mommy Snacks

• Lori Falcon: A Cowboy’s Wife and My Wooden Spoon

• Erika Lehmann: Chic Shopper Chick

• Lea Ann Stundis: Mommy’s Wishlist

• Toni Anderson: The Happy Housewife

• Diane Carbonell: Fit to the Finish

• Tanya Gordon: Mommy Goggles

• Amanda Acuna: Mommy Mandy

Talk about awesome, these gals are the best!  We shared our thoughts on eating, shopping and good health and also learned a bit about how men and women think and why we operate why we do.  You have to see this video we were shown talking about the differences between genders, it had me rolling-

As for good eating and a green earth, Frito Lay (a division of PepsiCo) is setting the bar in working to turn their plants LEED certified.  According to Wikipedia, The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction.

Frito Lay has already converted 32 of it’s plants to uphold these standards and has set it’s goals for 2010 to reduce water by 40%, natural gas by 33%, electricity by 23% and landfill waste: 5%, renewing primary packaging 50%, CO2 and emissions by 10%.

They’ve also turned Frito’s into fashion!  No kidding!  Frito Lay has partnered with TerraCycle and Ecoist to reduce packaging waste and create a new trend in handbags!  Every time you enjoy any Frito–Lay snack you can save the bag and send it in to TerraCycle, and they will “upcycle” the wrappers into cool new products. For each approved snack bag received $.02 will be donated to the non–profit organization or school of your choice. If you don’t have an organization in mind, you can choose from their list!

Frito lay has healthy options for us Wii Mommies to choose from and are coming up with more all the time.  From their Baked products to their new Smart Foods, Frito Lay is offering more healthy snacking choices that allows for our craving fulfillment without all the guilt!  Here’s a coupon for $1-off multipacks on www.fritolay.com right now!

In the interest of full disclosure, Frito-Lay and Zocalo Group paid for my travel expenses to bring me to the Frito-Lay offices in Dallas, Texas to learn more about the company because of my involvement with the Woman’s World campaign for smart snacking. I did not accept monetary compensation for reviewing or writing about these products or events. While some of the information given was referenced from other websites, the opinions of these products are solely my own.