Frequently asked questions
What does Home Compostable mean?
What are your Home Compostable bags made from?
Our bags are made from plants! More specifically, a mix of GMO-Free Corn Sugars and Wood Pulp. The printed and barrier layers are made from cellulose, which are derived from Wood Pulp. The inner sealing layer is a bio-polymer (naturally occurring structure) made from GMO-Free Corn Sugars.
Are your Home Compostable bags Certified Home Compostable?
Each bag is made using Certified Home Compostable Films. We have worked closely with our packaging partner to ensure our films are Internationally Certified Home Compostable to OK Compost HOME Standards. To achieve individual certification for each bag, they would need to pass through an independent accredited test house. Due to the cost of each individual certification and time, we haven’t certified each individual bag, but is something we’re working on right now!
What's the difference between Home Compostable and Biodegradable?
Does it really compost? (Yes, it does!)
Are all of your products going to be Home Compostable one day?
At Proper Crisps, we know there is no silver bullet solution for sustainability, rather it takes a million little steps to create a more sustainable and delicious future. Home compostable packaging is a great step forward, and we want to make more home compostable bags available in New Zealand. Technology is always advancing too, so we are always looking for new ways to make all of our bags more reusable, recyclable or compostable.
We now have 10 products in the Proper range which will continue to be available in home compostable packaging including our next step in our home compostable packaging journey, we are launching four smaller bags (35g) in March 2021. The four flavours are Dill Pickle with Apple Cider Vinegar, Sage & Onion, Marlborough Sea Salt, and Cheeza-peno Tortilla Chips
What if I don't have a Compost Bin?
What Oil do you use?
Why are your Kumara Crisps different colours?
Don't worry, we haven't got the Garden Medley and the Kumara crisps mixed up! We use a Seasonal Medley of Kumara from the team at Kaipara Kumara in Northland. In each bag we have batch-cooked in High Oleic Sunflower Oil – Orange (Beureguard), Red (Owairaka), Gold Kumara (Toka Toka) Purple Dawn, and other seasonal varieties, and lightly sprinkled with Marlborough Sea Salt – uniquely Proper!
Why is there Sugar in your Cider Vinegar Crisps?
As you are probably aware we only use natural ingredients, no food additives at all. We add the smallest amount of sugar to balance out the flavor and counter act the acid to create a more fuller and rounder flavor. We selected raw sugar as this is less processed than white sugar and is a much better alternative to Maltodextrins E965 (a food additive).
The amount of sugar we add is so low, that it doesn't even affect the nutritionals between this bag and our other flavours!
Do you provide any Sponsorship opportunities?
We think it's important to pay it forward and cultivate success and we are proud to be able to support various causes with Proper Love! We have had a tradition of supporting local events and community groups, and have recently shifted our focus towards improving sustainability and making a positive impact on the environment. We are working towards supporting sponsorship opportunities that have same vision. If you have an event or cause you'd like us to consider, please use the contact form on our Contact page to let us know!
I don't eat Gluten, can I your Crisps?
Our crisps are 100% Natural, Real Food. They are Gluten & GMO Free and are Vegan-friendly, with no Added MSG or Trans Fats. We have an allergen-safe site, which means we ensure all our ingredients are supplied to us from allergen-free suppliers and producers.
Why have your Tortilla Chips changed from Compostable to Non-Compostable?
Feedback from our customers has told us that you love our authentic Tortilla Chips, but for some, the price was a little too high. So, we now have Tortilla Chips available in both home compostable and non-compostable bags at a more affordable price, so you have a choice and nobody has to go without our delicious Tortilla Chips.
You can still get your Proper Tortilla Chips in home compostable bags at specialty retail stores including Farro Fresh, online at https://www.propercrisps.co.nz/buy-online or you can get them in the non-compostable bags in other supermarkets. The non-compostable bags can also be recycled through the soft plastics recycling scheme.
We have also launched a small packet (35g) of our popular Cheeza-peno Tortilla Chips in a home compostable bag which you can find in convenience stores e.g. dairies and petrol stations, and coming soon to some of your favourite venues!
How do I tell the difference between your Compostable Tortilla Chips and Non-Compostable Tortilla Chips?
You’ll see the ‘Home Compostable Bag’ graphic displayed loud and proud on the front of the home compostable bags, and in the attributes section on the back of the bags.
Why have you launched a 35g range in Home Compostable bags?
Our research found that a huge amount of litter comes from snacks purchased in convenience stores such as petrol stations. It makes sense, as more and more people are eating on the run – you buy single items to eat on road trips, to take to the beach or for an afternoon snack. Small bags especially are sneaky at blowing away and landing in our waterways and on roadsides. This is exactly why we have launched four of your favourite products in new snack size (35g) home compostable bags. So, you can take it home and compost it or dispose of it responsibly – but if that pesky bag gets away from you, at least you know it won’t sit on the roadside! Just like our large home compostable bags, the new smaller bags will also breakdown when exposed to water, heat, oxygen, soil and micro-organisms in a home or commercial compost environment.
How can I help create a sustainable & delicious future?
Any time you make the choice to purchase our home compostable products you make a difference as every home compostable bag purchased is one less plastic bag made!
Not only does it help the environment, but it helps us make home compostable more of a reality for Proper Crisps in the future. The more people who buy home compostable bags, the more home compostable bags we can make.
You can help by choosing home compostable bags whenever you can and telling your friends about it too! When you can’t purchase our products in home compostable packaging, we recommend you recycle the non-compostable bags through NZ’s soft plastic recycling scheme wherever possible.
What are your sustainability goals?
We’re not just working on packaging here at Proper, we’ve got some other nifty sustainability initiatives too and we’re always working to improve! Our key sustainability goals include:
- Reducing emissions from our Proper factory & transportation
- Reducing our water usage
- Minimising waste
- Educating Kiwis about sustainability
- Where possible, using locally grown and made ingredients
As well as introducing home compostable packaging, we’re proud of the many other actions we have taken towards achieving our sustainability goals over recent years. These include making sure we source ingredients responsibly, changing packing materials, and reviewing how we operate in our factory & head office. For example:
- We source environmentally responsible materials. We only ever using sunflower oil (never palm oil!) and work with local farmers to grow our raw material. All potatoes & other vegetables in Proper products are NZ grown.
- We have sourced cartons made from 40% recycled materials to pack our bags of crisps and decreased the amount of shrink wrap used to wrap pallets by 40%
- We have introduced a second bagger to our factory which has improved the sealing process, thus reducing the number of wasted bags due to rips and tips
- We commercially compost raw material scraps from our factory
- We have introduced recycled water for our daily factory clean down, saving at least 2,000 litres of water each day
- We work with local businesses to reuse and repurpose any excess cooking oil from our factory
- Recycling services are provided on-site for batteries, cardboard, glass, aluminium and plastic
- We have eliminated the use of coffee pods at our head office and replaced plastic milk bottles with glass, which get collected and reused
If you’ve got a question or great idea to reduce waste, we would love to hear from you! You can contact us at info@propercrisps.co.nz
Where have your collaboration Crisps with Trelise Cooper & Garage Project gone?
While it’s true these definitely were crowd favourites, they were always intended to be a Limited Edition so we have now finished making these products. However, we are always working on exciting new products and we’ve recently launched some delicious new additions to the Proper family, such as our Dill Pickle with Apple Cider Vinegar! Stay tuned to see what else we’ve been cultivating...