Category Archives: Bags

Recycling is even more important now

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This year has been a struggle for many countries in the world.  The economy has started to change to keep up with the new pandemic lifestyles that countries are falling into. This is causing lots of individuals to be forced to stay at home and that has led to lots more online shopping.  This means that businesses are buying more cardboard boxes than ever before.  They are also shipping more cardboard boxes more then ever. This has led to a huge issue with extra issues with recycling.

We are now cutting down millions of more trees this year to keep up with the traffic of online sales.  The insane amount of extra paper being needed is causing our world a lot off issues.  Rather you are eco-friendly or not we need to be aware of the waste we are making by using all these paper products.  It is possible to recycle and reuse the majority of these paper products and that can cut down on all the extra waist and belive it or not extra cost.

If you don’t have to plant and cut down all those extra trees then you can simply pay to get your recycled paper products instead. It is much cheeper to use recycle paper products and also cuts down on the actual waste that it causes.  Believe it or not those savings eventually get passed onto the regular consumer.  This can have even more of an impact these days as we are using more and more paper and shipping more and more.  When the costs goes down for us all we all win and the planet wins as well.  So I suggest being as eco friendly as you can be.

For my situation it means that I started to create a pile in the garage that each week I go out and break down boxes to be recycled.  Now personally I am an avid outdoorsman and love to break down boxes. This is because I am able to use my favorite knives and put them to work.  Yes, it is a hunting thing and it is great to practice in the off season for deer hunting and field dressing. I know that sounds a bit crazy, but the more practice makes me safe and helps the environment so that is my choice. 

When it comes to choosing the right knife for the breaking down of the boxes that is a difficult choice.  The first choice of most people is to use scissors.  This sounds safe and easiest but the problem is that cardboard is very hard on steel.  Your sciscors will be dull by the time you are done with a big pile of boxes.  This also leads to the issue of the grip.  You will likely have blisters by the end if you use the regular scissor handles.  So the option is to instead use a knife. 

Now not just any knife.  It is best to use a steel that is good and resistant to hard materials.  This means getting a steel that costs a little more than the rambo looking blades at Walmart. So spend a little more and get a quality knife with a steel that wont dull while cutting the first batch of boxes. Stay safe out there, keep washing your hands ,and try to recycle if you can.

The Pros and Cons of 4 Top Snack Food Packaging

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There are so many different packages available for snack food, and it is hardly possible to understand each of them in a vast ocean of the options to package snack foods. The following is to discuss the pros and cons of 4 top snack food packaging.

Flexible Pouches

The flexible pouches refer to the collection of various kinds of single-use containers made of plastics or foils. This kind of packaging is used typically for snacks and drinks. Its popularity rises due to the fact that it is resealable and has less impact on the environment. For snack food packaging, without a doubt, the flexible pouches are one of the most popular ones.

The Pros Of Flexible Pouches

  • Easy to source
  • Affordable
  • Full branding & graphic capabilities
  • Very low carbon footprint
  • Use little space in landfills
  • Resealable
  • Easy to open

The Cons Of Flexible Pouches

  • Impossible or hard to recycle
  • 1,000+ year average to fully degrade
  • Could affect the flavor of food or drink
  • Not viable for the luxury packaging applications
  • Low resistance to the extreme temperature during storage

 Paperboard Boxes

The paperboard boxes are also a popular option for snack food packaging. Paperboard boxes generally come with rectangular or square boxes, but less commonly come with others like hexagons or triangles. They could be made of 100% paperboard or mixed with other materials like small clear film windows to let consumers see the inside.

The Pros Of Paperboard Boxes

  • Full branding & graphic capabilities
  • Easy to source
  • Recyclable
  • Resealable
  • Easy to open

The Cons Of Paperboard Boxes

  • Higher carbon footprint
  • Costly
  • While recyclable, may end up in landfills because of contamination
  • Producing methane when in landfill

 Hard Plastic Container

The hard plastic containers are also another popular snack food packaging. This kind of packaging could come with various shapes as well as sizes, and it usually features the easy to open and pop-off lid. Most of them are made of easy to recycle plastics. The common snack foods packaged in the hard plastic containers are nuts, seeds, dried fruit, candy, chocolates, pretzels, snack mix, crisps, and many others.

The Pros For Hard Plastic Containers

  • Sturdy
  • Easy to source
  • Recyclable
  • Resealable
  • Easy to open

The Cons For Hard Plastic Containers

  • Costly
  • Expensive to ship
  • Higher carbon footprint
  • While recyclable, may end up in landfills because of contamination

 Glass Snack Containers

The glass containers are another top form for snack food packaging, but they are not as popular as the other kinds. Although this packaging has many shortcomings, glass is straightforward and easy to recycle. Also, glass presents an air of sophistication and luxury, which makes it very popular for gourmet as well as luxury snack food brands.

The Pros for Hard Glass Containers

  • Sturdy
  • Easy to source
  • Luxurious
  • Easy to open
  • Recyclable
  • Resealable

The Cons For Glass Containers

  • Expensive
  • Prone to cracking & breaking
  • Very high carbon footprint
  • Very expensive to ship
  • While recyclable, may end up in landfills because of contamination
  • Use excessive space in warehouse

Too Much Cardboard

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Are you in the same boat as I am.  Is your house filling up with excessive amounts of Cardboard boxes?  Seriously, I am starting to be at a loss of what to do with all of this extra stuff laying around.  I know the excessive amounts of it are due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and continued riots.  The shutdown of our economy and lockdowns has simply left us with shopping more online than ever before.  I am seriously ordering more from amazon, and other online companies than any other time in my life.  This is leading to up to 2 to 4 boxes arriving at my home each day. The amount of cardboard boxes that is now in my garage needing to be dealt with has reached proportions of 6 feet by 10 feet by 6 feet of boxes in my home.  This is getting insane. The real issue is I am not really too sure on how to get rid of it. But I am going to go through my plan.

https://youtu.be/5IhXMmj1mHI

First I think the best way to get it out is simply to put it in my weekly trash.  We are not allowed to use recycling again as of the lockdowns.  I am not sure how that is not essential but I would contact your local government and let them know that you think it is just as I have done. 

The fact that all these boxes are going to go to waste does hurt me on the inside and I feel like I am hurting the planet around me because of this.  But my goal is to now just move them out slowly through my weekly trash pickup.  I am however limited to 10 50 gallon bags of trash per week.  The issue is I still have normal trash and extra yard work trash to put out each week and this leaves little left for boxes.

So my next plan is to cut the boxes up into small sections and place them in bags.  I wish there was another way, but my goal is to go into my closet and pick out a fixed blade knife that has the best handle ergonomics.  I want this so I dont get blisters and I also want to match it with the best edge retention steel. This is because cardboard is dense and abrasive then I plan to cut it up in small pieces and place in the bags to trash.  That is my goal and I hope this is something you can do as well.

Shopping in the Grocery of 2020

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Looking around things don’t look like they have changed. I look out my backdoor and I still have a yard.  When I go onto my front porch I still see neighbors walking in my neighborhood.  We wave and say hi, but I have noticed a trend. It is almost like its halloween night and everyone is tricker treating.  Everyone is wearing a mask.  The children playing basketball only with their family members, are still wearing masks.  The neighbors from down the block are walking passed my driveway and waving wearing medical masks or home made flannel masks.  COVID-19 has struck and the biggest difference is at stores.

https://youtu.be/bcRslqWC3Ns

Driving anywhere feels like a ghost town.  So many stores are closed and only large chain stores are  allowed  to be open.  The parking lot is packed full of people and there are lines to get into the store.  It is as we went into a communist state.  Lines and people telling you where you can go.  When you get into the store many sections are roped off and you have to tell someone want you want to go get it for you. I don’t see the point if someone is directly going to touch the candy boxes I pick out and ask them to get.  The chance of getting the COVID-19 virus is still the same if the same person who gets my candy boxes give and received to 1000 other people on the same day.  There are rules upon rules for a virus that has barely even effected my area.

 Thousands of people have died from Heart Disease and Cancer in my city in the last week, but they simply don’t matter.  Only the 10 that have been infected by COVID-19 matter.  Nursing homes are losing people to other illnesses at an alarming rate due to their lockdown and people not being allowed to live even a semi normal life.  They are totally alone and away from families and my relatives who are being kept from us are struggling. 

 These are my thoughts as I am walking through the store.  I get back to my car and have hand sanitizers wipes and regular hand sanitizer and go over all of my groceries.  It is honestly hypocritical of me because there is still such a low chance that COVID-19 is on my groceries. There is even less of a chance that it will matter. I am a healthy middle aged male and it would only be like getting the flu. Shopping is no longer fun and I hope things get back to normal fast.

Subscription-Based Sweets?

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Lately there’s been a craze for subscriptions. Namely, subscription boxes. Anything you can imagine most likely has some sort of subscription-based company marketing its goods towards you. From clothes to music and fresh ingredients for meals to makeup, people are crazy for subscription boxes that are sent directly to them.

Candy is no different. In fact, you can have unique candies from foreign countries packaged up and sent to you once a month with all sorts of new things to try each time. And it’s become very popular. Why has it caught on, though?

Just another product for subscriptions.

Just like all subscription-based services, candy has found its way into homes on a monthly basis thanks to the subscription box craze. It makes sense, really. Why would other products work on a month-to-month schedule and not candy? Especially when it’s unique, foreign, or seasonal candy that is considered exclusive or limited edition. People eat that stuff up.

Thanks to candy boxes, candy is more than just the sweet treat itself. It’s the presentation of that treat, the colors that accompany the sugary snack. Specific art on the boxes can trigger emotions and desires to buy the product because of its look, its statement, or its ability to stand out among other candies. This is how marketing applies to all sorts of products and is exactly what ropes customers into buying it in the first place.

Why not just buy some candy from the store?
What makes these services work so well is the specialness of it all. The feeling of gifting yourself something new and exciting every month is a powerful one, especially to break up the monotony of life. People look forward to the feeling of unpackaging and ripping apart a box with unknown items within. It’s engaging, it’s interesting, it’s exciting, and it’s practical to not have to go buy your own stuff. It’s like a gift to yourself, really.

Another factor is how easy it is to simply sign up for a product and have it delivered to you. There’s no going out of your way to get it, such as driving to the store. It’s packaged nice and neat for you and sent to you. This all ultimately takes the effort out of obtaining it, at least on your end.

When it comes down to it, subscription candy boxes are just another good checked off on the list of “Things to Make into Subscription Companies”. And like all the items on that list, it’s a profitable service.