Plastic has become the go-to material for most types of packaging, and for good reason. Plastic containers offer a wide range of benefits, such as being lightweight, durable, versatile and even eco-friendly, though many might doubt that
Plastic containers can be just as strong as steel, as evidenced by the nanoinfused polymer developed by researchers at the University of Michigan almost a decade. This polymer is thin, like plastic wrap, but extremely strong, like steel. This polymer might not be commercially available, but there are plenty of other plastics that are strong enough to protect any type of product.
So, if you want to make sure your product is protected, whether you sell cosmetics or expensive electronics, there are few materials that can do so as efficiently as plastic. And considering that products are being shipped across the world more and more frequently, it just makes sense to use good plastic containers that will ensure your product reaches your customers looking as good as it should.
Extremely Light
Compared to other forms of packaging, plastic containers are extremely light. For example, more than 50% of all products in Europe are packaged using plastic containers. However, these containers make up approximately 17% of all packaging materials used.
In other words, plastic containers are both strong and light, which means they can protect your products without adding to their weight. And that has become increasingly important nowadays because it will save you a lot of money on shipping and make your product more competitive for the end-user.
They’re More Eco-Friendly Than Most People Realize
Plastic has a bad reputation because it’s resistant to corrosion and bio-inert, which means it doesn’t break down in soil like a banana peel would, for example. For this reason, most people consider plastic to be terrible for the environment. And from that point of view, they’d be right.
However, it’s because of these qualities that plastic containers are more eco-friendly than many other types of packaging.
First of all, they are highly resource efficient for a number of reasons, including the fact that they can be made from basically anything that contains hydrogen and carbon. At the moment, fossil fuels are mainly used to manufacture plastics, but it’s possible to make plastic containers from renewable materials like corn and sugar.
Plastic containers are also very easy to recycle and are one of the most recycled materials in the world. In a single year, more than 3 billion pounds of plastic bottles, over 1.2 billion pounds of other forms of rigid plastic, and more than 1.1 billion pounds of non-rigid plastic was recycled, click here for more information.
So, plastic containers might not break down in a garbage dump, but there’s no need to throw them out in the first place because of how easily they can be recycled.
Extremely Versatile
As the extensive variety of plastic containers, both in terms of shape and size, shows, plastic can be molded into practically any shape you can dream of. From shells and trays to pots and pouches, the sky really is the limit in creating a plastic container as plastic can be molded into practically any shape you can dream of, like what they do over at Simply Plastics.
This versatility makes plastic unique because there aren’t really any other materials that can be molded into exactly the shape you want, even one that fits the container to your product accurately.
Plastic containers are the ideal option for most products on the market. And now that the volume of online purchases has grown significantly, and continues to do so, it simply makes more sense to use a type of container that won’t break and will reach your customer intact.
