Not only are Sun Chips bags the noisiest chip bags ever manufactured, but the company claims that they’re biodegradable and will break down completely in about 13 week, in a hot compost pile.

Yesterday, the kids and I became consumer detectives as we buried a Sun Chips bag to see how well it breaks down in our own back yard.  All we needed was a Sun Chips bag (which had been quickly emptied by my chip-deprived children), a few fruit scraps, and a shovel.  (Be sure to dig in a spot where there are no power lines buried.  You can check with your local electric company if you’re not sure.)

First, we dug a shallow hole near our garden, in a spot that gets lots of sun and put our chip bag in the hole.  We’re lucky enough to have a curbside organic recycling program in our neighborhood, so we don’t have a compost heap of our own. To make up for the compost deficit, and add some heat and microbes from rotting vegetation, we threw in a few watermelon rinds, tomato scraps and avacado skins from the compost bin in our sink.  Then, we put dirt on top of our little “compost heap” and put a rock on top to mark the spot.  Finally, we watered the dirt to get the process started.

In about three weeks, we’ll dig under the rock to see what is happening.  According to the information on the Sun Chips bag, it should be starting to break down.  After that, we’ll check it every four weeks or so.  The bag says it takes about 13 weeks to break down completely.

Do you have a compost heap?  Composting is a great way to make beautiful, nutrient-filled dirt for your garden and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.  According to the Environmental Protection agency, 26% of the solid waste we produce is made up of yard and food waste.  You can go to their website for more information on composting.

Last year, the New York Times reported on a study involving texting and driving that concluded that truck drivers (professional drivers, not teenagers) who text while driving are 23 times as likely to be involved in a collision while texting.  ”In the moments before a crash or near crash, drivers typically spent nearly five seconds looking at their devices — enough time at typical highway speeds to cover more than the length of a football field.”  You don’t have to be a physicist to understand why that’s really, really scary.

When Motorola offered to provide me with their latest hands-free device to try out ,I almost said no.   The H17txt with MotoSpeak™ reads your texts to you over Bluetooth and lets you customize automated responses, so you can put your cell down and stay focused on the road.  I never text and drive and rarely talk on my cell phone in the car.

But, many, many people do.  It occurred to me that if the handless device works well, the review might encourage people who do text and drive to purchase a device that helps them keep their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road.  So, I decided to say yes and give the  H17txt with MotoSpeak™ to a friend who is a salesperson and spends many hours on the road for his job.  I’ll pass his review along to you.

June is National Safe Driving Month, and Motorola’s “Get Smarter”™ cars will be making a stop in Minneapolis to make sure consumers are driving responsibly and staying legal this summer. Starting June 1st follow Motorola on Twitter and Facebook for a chance to win an H17txt with MotoSpeak™ and a free ride in Motorola’s “Get Smarter”™ car on June 18^th and 19^th.   To learn more about what Motorola is doing to prevent distracted driving please see their press release here.

I’ll let you know how the handless device works for my friend!