While deciding about the right material for the packaging of your items before shipping, you get to make a selection from a wide range of options. In this scenario, most of the people consider using cardboard option. However, many people have started opting for the much cheaper shrink and/or stretch films.

The major benefit of shrink and stretch film is that it has lower carbon footprint as compared to cardboard. It means that these films are going to have reduced impact on environment. In this article, we will discuss each of these materials briefly.

Stretch film is a clear plastic film which has the capability to stick with itself when it is wrapped around an object. Stretch wrap is commonly used to secure the pallets. The pallets secured, using stretch film, are more likely to remain safe during shipping.

You can apply stretch film manually as well with the help of a special dispenser. The dispenser can be fully or partially automatic. Depending on the gauge, this film can be used for the wrapping of virtually anything.

Shrink film is a clear plastic which is made to form right according to the shape of the product which the film is wrapped around. Heat is applied to the film in order to make it take the product’s shape. The major application of this film is in the food packaging. Frozen pizza, pies and baked goods are packaged using this film. This film is ideal for the other product as well. Products like puzzles, toys and books can be made secure using this film. In literal sense, there are thousands of products which can be packaged using this film.

When you use stretch and shrink films together, you can make significant improvements in terms of controlling greenhouse emissions. The reason is that the material used per inch is heavier when you use cardboard packaging as compared to stretch and shrink films.

Now, you may wonder if plastic is better than other packaging materials for environment. The matter of fact is that plastic is still better than most of the materials. However, plastics are still not fully ideal in this regard. With the production of bio-polymers, the said issues are expected to be resolved pretty easily.

Another benefit these plastic packaging materials provide is related to the costs. Cardboard is not only bulky but it can be quite costly. It is also costly from the perspective of weight. When you are shipping a bulky item, you are definitely going to have to pay higher. Using lighter materials for packaging can help in the significant cost reduction.