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Kite blog

Unpoppable Bubble Wrap

By Jake Kirk • Friday 29th August 2014

We read a great little post earlier in the week on Gizmodo, describing the ‘horrors’ of unpoppable bubble wrap. Lots of people, well we think lots anyway, are obsessed with the idea of bubble wrap and just seem to get a thrill out of pushing the air out of those bubbles. In the post the author mentions that ‘this abomination has been around for years’ – which of course it has, but for very good reason!

Now first of all, because we’re sticklers for correct terminology when it comes to packaging materials, the bubble wrap you see in the video below are not bubble wrap…I know we’re sorry, you’ve all been lied to. It is actually a layer of quilted air cushioning which is supplied flat on rolls of film and ran through an air machine (like our Kite Mini Air) to produce protective wrapping material.

Taking the example of our Mini Air system, we offer several types of film to suit varying packaging needs, while the filler cushions are ideal for filling large voids in boxes and protecting corners the quilted material is the most popular as a direct replacement for bubble wrap.

But why would someone want the unpoppable version compared to the lovely popping one? Well we hate to break this news to you but some businesses actually require bubble wrap that doesn’t pop, or is very difficult to pop – usually when wrapping heavy items. Heavy items when placed on regular bubble wrap can sometimes become unprotected in transit when the bubbles pop, and if the item is particularly valuable this can be a problem. Quilted air cushions prevent this issue by spreading the air evenly throughout the pouch so that there is no constant pressure forcing the bag to pop; this is also why these cushions retain air in their bubbles – each row is a continuous bubble and therefore trying to pop them like you would bubble wrap does nothing apart from move the air around inside the pouch.

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The offending quilted air cushion - ruining fun since 2012.

If your business uses large quantities of bubble wrap you may want to consider using our Mini Air calculator to see the potential savings from switching to air cushions. Because the air pockets are a lot bigger and more inflated than regular bubble wrap they tend to only require one layer to wrap a product, in comparison to bubble that may require two or three.

So there you have it, there is a real demand for unpoppable bubble wrap in the market place – also Santa doesn’t exist and no known species of reindeer can fly!