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Oh, Sun Chips. This all could've been avoided if you'd just packed a pair of ear plugs with your chips ( free prize in every bag!).

It turns out the world just wasn't ready for Sun Chips's environmentally friendly bag - the one that was released earlier this year with much fanfare. They're 100 per cent biodegradable! They won't spend centuries in landfills! They alone will extend the expiration date of the Earth! The new bag was green, all right, but focus groups seem to have missed one thing during pre-market testing: they're also incredibly noisy. (Click here to have a listen.)

So noisy that manufacturers have decided to return the chips to their original packaging, reports USA Today.

It seems we can max out the volume on our iPods without raising an eyebrow but the rustling sound generated by these louder-than-usual bags? Unbearable.

In August, the Wall Street Journal detailed just how annoyed the public was with this new design. In the story, the writer quotes a U.S. Air Force pilot who says the bag is louder than "the cockpit of my jet" and details the Facebook vitriol inspired by the new packages. Using a sound meter, he found that a bag of Tostitos Scoops (packaged in regular packaging) produced 77 decibels of sound, whereas the new Sun Chips bag measured in at 95 decibels.

According to USA Today, sales of the chips have dropped 11 per cent over the last year.

Sun Chips is still sticking with compostable packaging for one of its six flavours and in the mean time is heading back to the drawing board to find another green design - one that won't make you a social pariah.

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