Why You Should Use Stretch Film

Even though we’re all currently living in a time where everyone is trying to become more environmentally conscious by using products that are sustainable and easily recyclable, sometimes the complexities of life make it hard to fully avoid plastic.

Sure, nowadays many people have taken on the trend of the “zero waste” lifestyle, which is absolutely amazing however the innovators of the world have yet to invent the easily accessible alternative for machine wrap stretch film for example. As somebody who has a background in manufacturing work on a large in factories for huge brands, I’ve come to realise how crucial machine wrap stretch film for packing is.

I'm sure you're already aware that product packaging is important for your business' success. If your products, regardless of their type aren’t packed neatly in some sort of plastic bag, they’re more likely to experience some sort of damage during transport, and that’s definitely going to cost you as a manufacturing business owner in the long run. For example, while I was working at a car factory, we used to pack every single component of the car including the entire chassis in machine wrap stretch film.

This enables for a safer ride to the products’ destination, as well as protection from the elements like sun exposure, rain, and ice. Not only that, but plastic can help with protecting fragile products from getting scratched as well, depending on its thickness of course.

In a few short lines that’s basically why people really depend on plastic during the manufacturing process. But, I’ve decided to dig a little deeper and talk a little bit more about plastic and why it’s been continuously dominating the market for the past couple of decades.

Firstly, it’s very important to know that there are dozens upon dozens of different types of plastic meant for anything and everything starting from your household or a factory. For those of you who are not familiar, stretch film, also known as stretch wrap, is a plastic film that’s very easily stretchable that people use to wrap products around. It’s so popular thanks to the elasticity of the material which allows for a tight and snuggly wrap-around that’s going to keep your products safe and sound.

Personally, I advise you to use stretch film in your household as well. Many forms of it are mass-produced and sold in supermarkets across Australia to help you with packing your groceries, home appliances that you want to put away, and anything else that needs to be put in storage.

If you’re wondering about the materials used to make the stretch film, it’s usually LLDPE, which stands for linear low-density polyethylene . Sometimes manufacturers use PVC as well. During testing, stretch foil usually maxes out at a five-hundred percent stretch. However, most people tend to do the stretching at around three-hundred percent the most. This is also smart in my opinion because the more you stretch the film, the thinner it gets. A pro-tip would be to use more stretch film in quantity instead of using less and doing more stretching.

Some of the key benefits of stretch-foil further explain include:

Storage

If you have some old Christmas ornaments, or maybe some living room decorations that are valuable that you want to put away somewhere, I’d say don’t go for the basic cardboard box. Cardboard boxes are great for storage but one of their biggest downsides is the easy exposure to moisture and the fact that they take up an unnecessary additional amount of space.

Storing your products and items in the garage, basement, or attic means that you’re not going to be monitoring them that often, so you definitely want a solution that is long-term, and safe. Stretch film will definitely help you in this regard, and another huge plus is that since its transparent, you’re going to be able to see where you’ve put a specific item when you need it.

I already mentioned above, but it’s also good to know that a lot of businesses' main material for storage purposes is stretch film. Not only is it cheap but it also protects your products from moisture and dust.

This is why you need to make sure that the components you’re packing are moisture-free because once you wrap it with the film the moisture will have trouble evaporating and just end up on the film itself. This can cause potential uninviting odours, so make sure to know the state of the product that you’re trying to pack neatly.

Shelf-Life

Using stretch wrap for storage can also greatly improve the shelf life of the products that you’ve packed. This is why a lot of people use stretch foil to wrap fresh fruit or vegetables, and even products like raw meat, and even some harder cheeses.

This is the main reason why I highly recommend you take a trip to the supermarket and get yourself some stretch foil. Even if you don’t need it right now, you never know when it might come in handy. Stretch wrap can even help you pack for travelling. If you’re looking to pack some beauty and hygiene products, however, I recommend getting press-seal poly bags.

Theft-Protection

This is one of the oldest tricks in the books for the long-time manufacturing business owners. A lot of the time not only do businesses pack their products in a lot of plastic wraps, but they also wrap the tiniest components individually for another very big reason – theft. Although luckily not a lot of theft happens during transit, especially when it's international since it’s all a very controlled environment.

However, transit that is strictly on the road tends to be a bit on the riskier sire, and packing everything individually makes everything harder for the thieves since they don’t even know what they’re reaching for when they can’t see it. This delay of the theft overall allows the driver or the passengers aboard to contact the authorities and put a stop to the situation.

Maintenance and Monitoring Tips

When it comes to the maintenance of your items packed with stretch film, there isn’t a lot that you’ll have to do. Monitoring, however, is something that I recommend, especially if you live in areas where the temperatures can get high.

Even though stretch wrap can help you avoid moisture, it all depends on the nature of the product that you’ve packed. The occasional re-wrapping might come in handy in these situations.