Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, you know that sustainable, organic agriculture and local food are growing trends worldwide. In your local grocery store, there are likely entire sections filled with produce plastered with “local” and “organic” stickers that proclaim their benefits to body, environment, and community. It’s more expensive, [...]
In an increasingly interconnected world, we’re relying more and more on our devices and the way they communicate with the objects around us. We’re seeing the advent of a world where we’re not only getting information from other humans and our computers - we’re getting it from the objects and devices that make up our [...]
When people think of packaging, it’s easy to think that most materials are homogeneous (that is, the same type of material throughout): you have plastic films, metal foils, and paper and cardboard packaging, all straightforward and rather basic on their own. However, this is the 21st century, an era of scientific innovation spurred on by [...]
While plastic has been demonized for its damaging effect on the environment, most people feel more comfortable with paper-based products like paper bags and cardboard. When one weighs out all the factors that go into the manufacturing, use, and recycling of both materials, however, paper isn't as green an option as people think. Don't [...]
Hailed as the up-and-coming printing method, direct-package printing is primed to innovate the way we decorate packaging. By eliminating the need for labels, businesses can print directly on packages of any shape and size, opening limitless creative doors. But is it really all that it’s cracked up to be? You might have already heard about [...]
As more and more shipping companies are switching over to dimensional weight pricing, a lot of people are wondering what the deal is. Why not stick with the traditional physical weight pricing model -- after all, the heavier the package, the more it should cost, right? It turns out physical weight might not actually be [...]
There’s an increasing number of alternatives to plastic packaging as the market becomes more aware and concerned about sustainable practices. With that in mind, companies and researchers are looking high and low for innovative inspiration. In IKEA’s case, their answer to replacing polystyrene packaging might as well have been hiding under a log. No, we’re [...]
When we think of recycling, we often break things down into a few main categories such as plastics, metals, and paper. As technology advances and more materials (and their variants) are created, the process of recycling them efficiently and effectively becomes challenging. Doubly so when no one's really sure what bin to toss them [...]
Online tech retailer Newegg hosts its own annual Eggie Awards in honor of its partners. This year, FP International won one of 40 of the coveted awards. 2016 was quite a rollercoaster of a year for many people. For FP International, it was no different, though our slope seems to be in the upward [...]
I know it might seem like we're picking on plastic lately, but the facts are there: plastic waste is a major problem. Contributing from everything to bursting landfills, floating garbage islands in the middle of the ocean, and the leaching of toxic chemicals back into ground and water tables, the material that once revolutionized packaging [...]
As the old saying goes, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. So too do we find that to be the case with plastic, a revolutionary material that’s shaped industries the world over as well as asserting itself as the standard of food packaging. Of course, this all comes at the cost of [...]
Plastic has been the front-runner in food packaging for decades now. With its hardiness, malleability, and inherent air and moisture resistance, it's been a natural (artificial) choice as a food-safe material. Though it might keep your favorite snacks protected from bacteria or and excess air causing them to go stale, however, our extensive obsession [...]