No second life for my energy bar wrappers

Talk about timing. While driving into work today I was listening to KPCC's Larry Mantle talk to the esteemed Dan Neil about the LA Auto Show. They were waxing poetic about the new generation of alternative fuel vehicles that are on display at the convention center. Then I caught a white van out of the corner of my eye with the Clif Bar logo. It said it was a biodiesel vehicle. I've got Dan Neil's voice coming out of my radio telling me about the technology of the future and I've got an example of that future two lanes over. Except I'm not ready to applaud Clif Bar yet. Why should Clif Bar get credit for being good to the environment when their wrappers are filling up landfills?

Energy bar wrappers aren't recyclable because of the inner foil lining that keeps the bars fresh. So Clif Bar has its Energy Bar Wrapper Brigade, an "upcycle" program in which used energy bar wrappers are used to make new stuff. I once tried to sign up but the trial program was full. Still, I was slightly hopeful because the website said they'd be expanding. I figured the best way to help the environment was to not eat energy bars at all so I drastically cut back. But when I did eat one, I kept the wrapper, hoping to one day be able to send them in so they could be used to make backpacks and purses. Well, here we are more than a year later and still no luck. I just checked the website again and there still are no open slots. I'm glad the company is committed to doing something, but the number of wrappers collected (about 650,000 so far, according to the website) is a drop in the bucket compared to how many are sent to landfills (millions every year). I understand that they have to cap the program because if everyone sent their wrappers in they'd have more than they could use. But it would be nice if they could pour the same enthusiasm they have for reducing their CO2 emissions into finding other uses for their wrappers. For a company that touts its environmental record all over its website, it seems disingenuous. The only other solution is for everyone to stop eating so many energy bars but I don't think Clif Bar will embrace that suggestion anytime soon. In the meantime, I'm having a funeral for all the wrappers that came with me when I moved but I've finally had to accept are destined for a landfill.

I collected these wrappers for more than a year but now they're in the trash.