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- Release on2024-02-19
- Plastics boast a unique and useful set of properties. They are polymers, long chains of molecules made from repeating links called monomers, often produced from chemicals like petroleum. Its molecular structure can be engineered to present different characteristics—to be flexible or hard, transparent or opaque. They are durable, strong, lightweight, water resistant, and relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture. Most modern plastics are made from fossil fuels like natural gas or petroleum; but as new technology emerges, plastics are also being produced from renewable materials like corn or cotton. There are thousands of patented plastics spanning countless sectors, all with unique attributes that make them fit for purpose.Plastic in our daily lives In many applications, plastic is virtually irreplaceable because it is cheap, strong, lightweight, and resistant to corrosion. The most common uses of plastic are in packaging and building components, such as piping. In the medical industry, plastic is often key to contamination and infection control. Syringes, pipettes and gloves used in healthcare and biomedical research cannot be reused. While the excessive use of plastic packaging is concerning, some form of packaging is often necessary to maintain the hygiene or freshness of food, or maintain the integrity of a product during freight. Small or travel-size toiletries and personal hygiene products are sometimes seen as wasteful, but are vital in providing affordable sanitation options for some of our most vulnerable communities, such as the homeless or low-income families. With an estimated 70% of the world’s population living on less than US$10 a day, toiletries in single-serve sachets provide an affordable sanitation option in developing markets.Replacing plastic with other materials is neither simple nor straightforward, mainly due to the challenge of finding an alternative that combines all the most desirable plastic properties. Biodegradable alternatives—such as special plastics, paper, or cardboard—may well have a higher greenhouse footprint because of the amount of water or natural resources consumed in their production. A study conducted last year by the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore found that reusable plastic bags are more eco-friendly than paper and cotton alternatives, but only in cities and countries with a well-structured waste management system that prevents leakage.Incorporating recycling as part of every sustainable waste management system is a key focus for us here at the Alliance. Recycling the plastic waste that is generated and returning it instead into the manufacturing chain reduces the need to produce virgin plastics, and unlocks the economic value of waste. Recycled plastic has recently been used to manufacture an expanding range of products, including furniture, roads, packaging, and clothing.Plastics can be sorted into two broad categories: easily recycled and hard-to-recycle. Easily recyclable plastics—such as PET in most bottles, or HDPE in pipes and containers—can be washed, ground into a powder, melted, and then extruded into pellets ready for reheating and remoulding. This process is known as mechanical recycling. For other hard-to-recycle plastics—such as LDPE, polyethylene film, or contaminated plastics like unwashed food containers—they can sometimes be recycled by using chemical recycling. This is a process where the polymer structure of the plastic is changed and converted into feedstock that can replace virgin materials used in the production of plastics....Read More>>
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- Release on2024-01-26
- Especially I live in Qingdao city, and when it comes to summer, the photo is quite common in Qingdao, everyone is enjoying cool beer, just with a PE bag to hang out....Read More>>
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- Release on2024-01-26
- Spices and seasonings add tremendous flavor to your customers’ favorite dishes, but to work their magic, Spice Packaging,they must be fresh. That means that proper packaging is critical – stale seasonings equal stagnant sales....Read More>>
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- Release on2024-01-26
- At Panxin Packaging we take pride in creating Ice Cream Packaging Pouches and Rolls with precision. Our aim is not only to securely hold your mouthwatering treats but also to preserve their flavor and quality....Read More>>
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- Release on2024-01-26
- It doesn’t take a lot for us to scream for ice cream, but eye-catching ice cream packaging definitely helps. If you’re planning to launch a mouth-watering product that’ll freeze out the competition, we’ve got you covered for packaging inspiration....Read More>>
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- Release on2024-01-26
- At present, most milk is packaged in Tetra Pak aseptic cartons, but in Canada, there about 50% of fresh milk is packaged in LLDPE film bags using molding-filling-sealing equipment. LLDPE co-extrusion film is the perfect combination of toughness, air tightness and low cost, which can effectively compete with the leading milk packaging HDPE cans and cartons....Read More>>
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- Release on2024-01-22
- If you live in New Jersey, it is almost a guarantee that you have a reusable grocery bag at home or in your car. The odds are also high that the bag is filled with several more. The growing stockpiles of reusable shopping bags are noteworthy, said JoAnn Gemenden, executive director of the NJ Clean Communities Council. Some who continue to grocery shop online are getting new reusable plastic grocery bags with each order. The chances some end up in the trash are high. A report released this month by Freedonia Custom Research on New Jersey's bag ban found that "on average, an alternative bag is reused only two to three times before being discarded."To keep the bags out of the waste stream, members of the Clean Communities Council and the state Food Council have created an online hub for reusable bag donation. Set to be formally unveiled later this month, the hub found at litterfreenj.org includes information on collection events and drop-off locations for reusable bags. That includes about 300 drop-off spots offered by the Community FoodBank of New Jersey and its partners, where the bags are in high demand. If you stockpile reusable grocery bags you're not alone. Here's what you should know 5-minute read David M. Zimmer NorthJersey.com If you live in New Jersey, it is almost a guarantee that you have a reusable grocery bag at home or in your car. The odds are also high that the bag is filled with several more. The growing stockpiles of reusable shopping bags are noteworthy, said JoAnn Gemenden, executive director of the NJ Clean Communities Council. Some who continue to grocery shop online are getting new reusable plastic grocery bags with each order. The chances some end up in the trash are high. A report released this month by Freedonia Custom Research on New Jersey's bag ban found that "on average, an alternative bag is reused only two to three times before being discarded." Recycling the reusable bags Reusable grocery bag filled with other reusable bags. A report on New Jersey's ban of one-time grocery bags shows that a reusable bag, is on average, "reused only two to three times before being discarded." To keep the bags out of the waste stream, members of the Clean Communities Council and the state Food Council have created an online hub for reusable bag donation. Set to be formally unveiled later this month, the hub found at litterfreenj.org includes information on collection events and drop-off locations for reusable bags. That includes about 300 drop-off spots offered by the Community FoodBank of New Jersey and its partners, where the bags are in high demand. "We still need the bags, and we're always going to need them," said Nicole Williams, a spokesperson for the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. "The food pantries, kitchens, shelters, child and senior feeding programs and all of the different organizations we work with to provide food, they need bags to distribute food." Story continues below map of where to drop off reusable grocery bags.The environmental impact of the single-use plastic bags is undoubtably bad. After hauling items home, the bags once ubiquitous at New Jersey grocery stores generally ended up in the trash and landfills where they are meant to break down into microplastics. Those that avoided landfills may have harmed wildlife or otherwise marred the environment as plastic tumbleweeds.Reusable grocery bags are not ideal Provided to cut back on waste, reusable bags come with their own set of environmental considerations. Studies in recent years have found the carbon footprint of single-use plastic bags is much lower than reusable bags that aren't reused enough. A cotton bag needs to be used between 50 and 150 times to have a lower climate change impact than a single-use plastic bag, according to the United Nations Environment Programme’s 2020 report on single-use plastic bags and their alternatives. When accounting for its total environmental footprint, some researchers have claimed a cotton bag potentially has to be used more than 1,000 times to break even with a single-use plastic bag.Nonwoven polypropylene (PP) bags, the rough gauze-type bags, require 10 to 20 uses, according to the report. A slimmer reusable polyethylene (PE) bag needs 5 to 10 uses, though all these bags can theoretically be cleaned and reused for a lifetime as long as they remain undamaged.The Freedonia report found that while the state ban has reduced bag volume in the state by more than 60% to 894 million bags, the switch to more durable bags has not done the environment too many favors. "This shift in material resulted in a notable environmental impact, with the increased consumption of polypropylene bags contributing to a 500% increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to non-woven polypropylene bag production in 2015," according to a company statement. "Notably, non-woven polypropylene, NWPP, the dominant alternative bag material, consumes over 15 times more plastic and generates more than five times the amount of GHG emissions during production per bag than polyethylene plastic bags."Plastic bag ban growing pains The state's ban on the use of single-use plastic bags, which also prevented supermarkets from reverting to paper bags, has come with growing pains. Most notoriously, grocery store customers started taking plastic hand baskets home after arriving at supermarkets bagless. Still, according to a Monmouth University poll conducted in August 2023, the habits of New Jersey consumers have shifted. Roughly nine in 10 residents said they were aware of the ban, and a similar percentage said they were now bringing their own bags to the store. In April 2022, a month before the ban went into effect, a university poll found just 38% of respondents brought their own bags to shop.Where to recycle reusable bags? Managing the growing number of reusable bags is another hurdle, Gemenden said. Officials from area grocery stores, including Whole Foods Market, said they have no intention to stop selling bags to customers. The Freedonia report said a typical store can earn $200,000 in profit per year off of reusable bags....Read More>>
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- Release on2024-01-22
- When it comes to the big problem with plastic waste, many people think of plastic shopping bags. But plastic food storage bags—used to store everything from sandwiches and on-the-go snacks to marinating chicken and freezer-ready rolls—are even more insidious. The same attributes that make W&P bags ideal for the freezer make it excel at sous vide, too. It was easy to displace air from the bag for a tight vacuum seal. The chop stayed submerged and didn’t take up much space in the pot, unlike the thicker bags. The Ziploc bag produced the juiciest, most flavorful chop, but the W&P chop was a very close second, making it the best silicone bag for sous vide. After cleaning the bag in the dishwasher, it retained no smell from the fish sauce marinade. In 2018, Americans tossed out about 4.2 million tons of plastic shopping and food storage bags, sacks, and wraps, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. I crunched the numbers, and that averages out to nearly 26 pounds per person! And LDPE and LLDPE resins—the stuff used to make plastic baggies, films, and food wraps—made up more than two-thirds of that plastic waste. Silicone bags are a popular replacement for plastic baggies. So much so that SC Johnson, which owns Ziploc, acquired the reusable silicone storage bag brand Stasher in 2019. These bags are made from silica (a natural element abundant in sand and rock) and are considered by the Food and Drug Administration to be generally nontoxic and safe for food storage.“Find reusable bags that are designated food-grade either on the packaging or the website,” says James E. Rogers, PhD, director of food safety research and testing at CR. An FDA stamp of approval on a silicone product would also mean it’s safe to use with food. Reusable plastic bags made of PEVA and other polymers are available, but silicone is more durable (though tears and punctures can happen) and lasts longer than plastic, which explains the bigger price tags. Plus, silicone doesn’t degrade or break down into microparticles, making it potentially less harmful to your health and the environment. However, for silicone bags to be genuinely sustainable, you have to actually use them and stop using disposable ones. “The key is to replace the single-use plastic bag and to use the silicone ones for a long time,” says Ushma Pandya Mehta, cofounder of Think Zero, a zero-waste consultancy. She adds that you should first get as much use as possible out of the disposable plastic storage bags and other food storage containers you already own “before buying a new trendy ‘zero waste’ product. Using what you have is more sustainable than buying something new.” If you’re committed to kicking your plastic bag habit, using good silicone bags can help. I looked at five popular silicone bag brands and evaluated their quart-sized bag (or the size that came closest). If they offered a stand-up version, I checked that out, too. Many of them come in pretty hues, but I opted for white to best assess for stains. Learn more about how I evaluated these silicone food storage bags, below.Bolognese sauce stained every bag it touched even after a thorough wash, but the stains were entirely reversed in only two bags—this one and the Stasher—by simply letting the bags bathe in the sun for two afternoons (per Stasher’s recommendation). Filling W&P bags requires two hands, one to splay the opening and the other to fill. With the stand-up version, you can at least let go of the bag without it flopping over (and it heats food in the microwave with ease), but filling the flat bag with liquid is much trickier because it is very thin and soft. The bags need to stretch over three rows of tines in the dishwasher to stay propped open....Read More>>
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- Release on2024-01-15
- After a boom in demand in 2021 and record prices and margins in 2022, the European sack kraft paper market started to cool down in 2023 as players throughout the supply chain focused on destocking plentiful inventories. The high level of inventories in the market resulted in a drop in sack kraft paper demand and a reduction in production and prices, especially for unbleached grades. What can we expect to see ahead? Fastmarkets’ associate economist and expert in the sack kraft paper market, Camila Jaramillo, presents her research and analysis on the drivers in the sack kraft paper market and the opportunities and challenges ahead in this short-term outlook.One of the sanctions imposed by the European Commission over the war was the ban on paper imports from Russia. This caused a demand boom in the EU, mainly in the first half of 2022, with people fearing paper scarcity and purchasing large quantities to ensure availability. The demand for sack kraft paper in Europe varied significantly in different regions. Overall, demand grew by 6.2% in 2021 but contracted by 1.5% in 2022. Western, Central, and Southeastern Europe showed an increase in demand, while Eastern Europe experienced a significant drop in demand due to the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war.The impact of the ban varied for different grades of paper. For the sack kraft paper market, it had a considerable impact on market results. Russia is home to some of the largest companies in the market and the introduction of the import ban could result in around 77,000 fewer tonnes of sack kraft paper in the EU market per year, considering the import annual figures from 2021. This situation led to an increased demand in Western Europe for sack kraft paper. The impact of the ban is also big on the machine-finished and machine-glazed kraft paper markets since 98,000 tonnes of imports came from Russia in 2021.In 2023, we expect net exports to grow again with Russian companies becoming more active in trading outside of Europe. They have been successful in finding new destinations, especially in China, Turkey, and South Africa. Russian companies will be important competitors for EU companies exporting to regions outside Europe, particularly for unbleached sack kraft.Some paper producers can swing capacity between sack kraft paper and kraftliner, as well as between sack kraft paper and machine-finished paper, depending on the market conditions. Therefore, drivers impacting the other side of the market can affect sack kraft paper capacity. For example, we saw a reduction in capacity in 2021 due to a swing towards kraftliner, which experienced a boom in demand for e-commerce packaging. Some of this capacity returned in 2022, but during the second half of the year, we observed a swing in capacity from sack kraft to machine-finished kraft paper. The machine-finished paper segment of the market faced significant challenges due to the energy crisis, leading to the closure of some units and temporary downtime. Consequently, some of the sack kraft capacity was utilized to produce machine-finished paper. In Q4 2022 we saw a reduction in production to keep prices high when demand contracted. This carried on into 2023 and this slow growth in production will continue for the rest of the year. We are expecting limited new capacity additions for sack kraft paper in the next few years. These will mainly be in Eastern Europe, and as in Western we expect mostly investments in the machine-finished kraft side of the market.In 2022, the unexpected war between Russia and Ukraine resulted in an energy crisis for Europe. Because of Europe’s high dependency on Russian gas, all industries in Europe were impacted by this energy price hike. The sack kraft paper industry, which is mostly integrated and produces its own energy, was less affected compared to the machine-finished and machine-glazed kraft paper sectors, where there are many non-integrated companies. These non-integrated companies were more exposed to energy price increases, leading to capacity closures and downtime. The sack kraft industry only purchased 22.8% of their energy fuels overall, with gas representing 3.6% of the total energy used....Read More>>
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- Release on2024-01-09
- When it comes to finding the best deals on packaging and party supplies, Paper Mart Wholesale is a top choice for businesses and individuals alike. With a vast selection of products available for purchase in bulk, there are many benefits to choosing this wholesale retailer over traditional retail stores....Read More>>
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- Release on2024-01-09
- When it comes to finding high-quality and affordable packaging supplies, Paper Mart Wholesale has become the go-to source for businesses of all sizes. Whether you need boxes, bags, or wrapping paper, this company has everything you need to package your products in a professional and secure manner. In this article, we’ll explore some of the many reasons why Paper Mart Wholesale is such a popular choice among retailers and wholesalers alike....Read More>>
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- Release on2024-01-09
- Mylar bags are popular because they can be custom designed to suit the needs of your brand. They also have a low cost for customization. Custom printed mylar bags are very popular in the packaging industry because they are lightweight, durable, and can be customized to suit any product. They are also an excellent choice for promotional purposes because they can be personalized with your company logo or name. Mylar bags have been used for decades in packaging, but recently custom mylar bags have seen a surge in popularity due to their durability and lightweight nature that make it suitable for use as a promotional product or giveaway item.Mylar packaging is one of the most popular packaging materials in the market today. It is a thin, strong, and durable material that is used in a variety of industries and applications. The demand for printed mylar bags has increased significantly in recent years. In particular, this material has been used by grocery stores to carry fresh fruits and vegetables to protect them from light and oxygen during transportation. Mylar pouches are also used as reusable retail bags that consumers can bring home with them after they purchase their groceries at the store. This practice helps reduce waste because consumers can use these shopping bags for their other purchases throughout the week.In order to reduce the cost of custom packaging, companies should consider its benefits. Mylar resealable bags are lightweight and easy to store and durable. The benefits of using mylar bags are numerous. They reduce cost, increase efficiency and are customizable. They’re great for protecting your belongings and for preventing potential damages. They also have a variety of uses such as storing food and packing delicate items.Custom mylar pouches can also be used as a marketing tool by displaying logos on them or adding other marketing messages to them. They are a great marketing tool for small businesses. They can be used for advertising purposes, marketing campaigns, or as giveaways at your business’s event....Read More>>