Hollowed wood, woven grasses, shells, leaves and even animal organs were used as the earliest form of packaging. Then came metals, pottery and paper. Plastic, first developed in the 19th Century, has proved to be one of the most adaptable and durable forms of packaging.
The substance Styrene was first distilled from a balsam tree in 1831 but the products made from it were brittle and broke easily. In 1862, the first man-made plastic was unveiled by Alexander Parkes at the Great International Exhibition in London. The material was derived from cellulose and called Parkesine. When heated, it could be molded to shape, which it then retained when cold.
In 1870 (during the American Civil War), a New York engineer, John Wesley Hyatt and his brother, Isaiah Smith Hyatt, created and patented ‘celluloid’. It could be carved and shaped rather than molded. Some thirty years later, a Swiss textile engineer, Dr Jacque Edwin Brandenberger, created cellophane. It was flexible, and water resistant. Cellophane Tape followed and then SaranTM, it’s ‘clinging’ qualities saw it first used to protect military equipment and later for food packaging. In the 1930s, German manufacturers refined the early Styrene processes and foam packaging materials were available worldwide from the 1950s.
Plastic bottle production remained relatively expensive, until the 1960s when manufacturing techniques changed and high-density polyethylene was introduced. The plastic bottles created from it were cheaper to produce and lighter than glass bottles.
Contribution to Retail History
With the capacity to be molded into any form, plastic provides all the flexibility required to create packaging for goods of all shapes and sizes. Lightweight, it provided manufacturers with a cost-effective packaging method for distribution. Being airtight, watertight and able to withstand freezing temperatures, the introduction of plastic packaging greatly extended the shelf life – and therefore geographic footprint – of perishable goods. The advent of the microwave extended the power of plastic packaging even further, opening up an entirely new concept in home cooking, the microwaveable ‘ready meal’.