Whether you’re sending something in the post or moving house or business, you’ll need to make sure all valuable and delicate items are safely packed. Bubble wrap, padded envelopes and jiffy bags are perfect for the job.
The stamp duty holiday and the home buyers’ ‘race for space’ has caused a recent flurry of house moves, while the increase in online shopping and separation from family and friends has prompted a surge in parcel sending. As a result, most of the nation has been doing more wrapping and packing than usual with the help of bubble wrap rolls and protective bags with sales of bubble bags and wrap predicted to grow by 3% each year until 2029.
What is bubble wrap made of?
Bubble wrap has come a long way since its first commercial use in the 1960s when IBM successfully discovered how to use bubble wrap as protective packaging for their computers (after first failing as 3D wall paper and greenhouse insulation!). Now, many homes and businesses have bubble bags, jiffy bags, padded envelopes and bubble wrap roll stashed away somewhere, just in case…
Of course, bubble wrap doesn’t grow on trees, so what is bubble wrap made of? It starts off as rice-like grains of mixed resin which are melted down into a thin film at a temperature of over 450C. As the bubble-wrap-to-be is fed through rollers with air holes in, air is pumped into the film to create air pockets.
More rollers seal it with another layer of film, creating evenly-spaced air bubbles. The air-filled film, is then cut to size and bubble wrap rolls are shipped out to be sold to manufacturing companies, retailers, packaging suppliers, home or business movers or sent to protective covers suppliers to be made into bubble bags, bubble wrap envelopes or jiffy bags.
If you want to know where to buy bubble wrap, most supermarkets, craft stores or post offices stock small amounts. For large or repeated projects, you can buy bubble wrap and protective bags from trusted packaging suppliers, such as phs Teacrate.
Can you recycle bubble wrap?
We’re often asked: ‘Can you recycle bubble wrap?’ And the answer is: ‘Yes! In exactly the same way as you recycle other plastics.’ If your local council doesn’t collect plastics and bubble wrap along with your recyclable waste (find out here about kerbside waste recycling in your area), you can always add bubble wrap to the plastic carrier bag recycling bins that are installed at many supermarkets.
Your business can easily deal with the disposal of bubble wrap and plastic packaging on a large scale with the help of compactors and balers from waste management companies, such as phs Wastekit.
Many people keep protective bags, such as bubble bags, jiffy bags and padded envelopes to re-use for posting future packages. Large pieces of bubble wrap or bubble wrap rolls can be saved for your next move, or passed on to family and friends who may have moving or packing projects of their own.
You can also re-purpose bubble envelopes and bubble bags that have been sent to you in packages, or bubble wrap rolls left over from a moving project in other ingenious ways around your home.
How to Use Bubble Wrap
For the conventional use of bubble wrap as protective covers, grab yourself some scissors and tape and follow these steps:
- Cut bubble wrap from bubble wrap roll – enough to cover your object at least once – be generous.
- Place bubble wrap on flat surface, bubble side up.
- Place item on top of bubble wrap with protective bubbles touching item.
- Cover the entire item in at least one layer of bubble wrap, using tape to hold in place. It doesn’t have to be pretty!
- Place bubble-wrapped item in storage or transit packaging, such as boxes or envelopes. Several items can be placed in one container, as long as they are all individually bubble wrapped.
For all of your moving and packaging projects, Get your bubble wrap, bubble bags and tape from phs Teacrate.