# Plastic shrink wraps



## Cal43 (Mar 31, 2019)

I’ve been looking at plastic shrink wraps. I saw there are rolls and individually cut bags, which is more economical? Where do you get yours from?


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## shunt2011 (Mar 31, 2019)

I get my shrink bags from Papermart.  For rolls check National Shrink Wrap.  I mostly use shrink bands I get from WSP for my soaps.  Bags for some soaps and other items.


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## DeeAnna (Mar 31, 2019)

Economical depends  on your circumstances. Are you a hobbyist or in business? If in business, what volume of production do you do?

IMO, the National shrink wrap system or a similar system that uses rolls is great for middle to larger volumes. Bags are good for small to middle volumes. 

Where the break occurs depends on your labor costs and preferences on how you like to do things. Carolyn (cmzaha) packages a lot of soap for her biz and uses bags.


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## Cal43 (Mar 31, 2019)

DeeAnna said:


> Economical depends  on your circumstances. Are you a hobbyist or in business? If in business, what volume of production do you do?
> 
> IMO, the National shrink wrap system or a similar system that uses rolls is great for middle to larger volumes. Bags are good for small to middle volumes.
> 
> Where the break occurs depends on your labor costs and preferences on how you like to do things. Carolyn (cmzaha) packages a lot of soap for her biz and uses bags.


I’m a hobbyist. You gave good points. Made perspective clearer for me.


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## DeeAnna (Mar 31, 2019)

As a hobby, you can spend whatever amount you want cuz, well, it's a hobby. If your pocketbook is deep enough to pay for the National system and you lay awake at night thinking about how wonderful it would be  then go for it.

I sell a little bit at a local gift shop, but I'm not wanting to build my soap making into a serious business. I might wrap 50-100 bars at a time, but that happens only every few months, and I'm pretty content with using the shrink bags. If I was wrapping that many bars every week, my opinion might be different.


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## Cal43 (Mar 31, 2019)

My pocket is very shallow. Lol, my job as a stay at home and homeschooler does not have perks and lots of bonuses as many other jobs. Im glad that I can still do this though.


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## PattyB (Jun 20, 2019)

I've been worrying a lot about the excessive use of plastic used in our day-to-day lives and also in this wonderful craft.  I just recently came across this article about recycling and am horrified as to what is happening world-wide.    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/17/recycled-plastic-america-global-crisis?CMP=share_btn_link


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## Lin19687 (Jun 20, 2019)

I use Boxes


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## cmzaha (Jun 20, 2019)

I use shrink wrap making no apologizes. When I first started I used boxes and found them very inconvienent and became very shop worn after a few months. I carry at least 40 different fragrances with varying recipes making 14 bars at a time so I wrap a lot of soap. By using shrink wrap I can easily touch up the shrink wrap while at market or rewrap if necessary. The only real pesky part of my wrapping is that I stick my labels on the soap not the outside of the wrap and they can stick pretty good to the soap. So far, in my years of selling no one has complained that they end up having to wash off the label. It is so easy to use 2x4 label stock


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## Kurt (Jun 20, 2019)

PattyB said:


> I've been worrying a lot about the excessive use of plastic used in our day-to-day lives and also in this wonderful craft.  I just recently came across this article about recycling and am horrified as to what is happening world-wide.    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/17/recycled-plastic-america-global-crisis?CMP=share_btn_link


NationalShrinkWrap offers biodegradable breathable shrinkwrap called Biolefin. Still some debate on this but worth a look. Pricey, but something I would use should I ever go from addicted soap hobbyist to mega business soap making mogul

http://www.nationalshrinkwrap.shoppingcartsplus.com/f/bio_sheet.pdf


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## jcandleattic (Jun 20, 2019)

I use 6x6 shrink bags, and have a sticky label I stick to the outside of my wrap. It's perfect for my use. 

I got a roll of shrink wrap when I got my first impulse sealer/cutter. Can't remember how big it was, but even with a LOT of waste it produced, almost 17 years later and I still have about 1/4 of that same roll left. 
I much prefer the bags I get from Papermart. Less waste and much easier to use for my applications. 
I'm glad I still have the roll because I will occasionally wrap other b&b/candle items that need bigger dimensions than the 6x6 bags.


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## Relle (Jun 21, 2019)

PattyB said:


> I've been worrying a lot about the excessive use of plastic used in our day-to-day lives and also in this wonderful craft.  I just recently came across this article about recycling and am horrified as to what is happening world-wide.    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/17/recycled-plastic-america-global-crisis?CMP=share_btn_link[/QUOTE
> 
> The less we use plastic the better. In Oz now you have to bring your own bags to the supermarket or they charge for them. It's stopped a lot of plastic going into the system. There is also a group getting rid of plastic straws ( they're not needed unless you have medical issues). We can also take our own cups to get takeaway coffee or tea.


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## KiwiMoose (Jun 21, 2019)

PattyB said:


> I've been worrying a lot about the excessive use of plastic used in our day-to-day lives and also in this wonderful craft.  I just recently came across this article about recycling and am horrified as to what is happening world-wide.    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/17/recycled-plastic-america-global-crisis?CMP=share_btn_link


You can get biodegradable plastics now for many purposes.  There's a girl at our local market who wraps her soaps in this stuff.  Our bin liners at home are all biodegradable plastics now - made of cornflour I believe?


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## Lin19687 (Jun 21, 2019)

This is cool, too bad it can't be used for soaps.  But on the right path for getting away from plastics.


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## KiwiMoose (Jun 21, 2019)

Lin19687 said:


> This is cool, too bad it can't be used for soaps.  But on the right path for getting away from plastics.


Yes - they can.  You can get biodegradable shrink wrap.


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## Lin19687 (Jun 22, 2019)

KiwiMoose said:


> Yes - they can.  You can get biodegradable shrink wrap.



It isn't the same.  Once you do the research, those films are not what you think they are, and Very expensive.
I like the boxes I use, those are always compostable and recyclable.


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## earlene (Jun 22, 2019)

KiwiMoose said:


> Yes - they can.  You can get biodegradable shrink wrap.



I'd love to see plant-based biodegradable shrink wrap that is affordable for the low volume soap maker!  

I looked into biolefin, which can degrade as fast as 6 months given certain undesirable circumstances, but if buried in the ground, 4 years.  (link)  Still, it is extremely expensive to purchase.  I once wrote them a note asking if smaller rolls could be purchased and they were not particularly interested in selling smaller lots.  So for the low volume soap maker, not at all affordable.  HOWEVER, Two Wild Hares sells in as bags, so it is more affordable from at least one vendor.  But one drawback to this product is that industrial recycling centers are not set up to accommodate this type of plastic, so it would likely end up in landfill.

I am glad to be reading about the development of biodegradable and compostable soy-based plastics, although not all soy-based plastics are bio-friendly.  Our local farmers are going to be producing tons upon tons of soybeans this year at a huge financial loss which will impact our local economy in a very big way.  (That's why I like that soy-based biodegradable products are being developed.)

More on compostable plastics, and this gives a completely different view on the issues facing us with PLA plastics: 
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/environmental-impact-of-corn-based-plastics/

And this, which is from January 2019, so very current:  https://serc.berkeley.edu/compostable-plastics-are-they-playing-you/

So I guess I would have to agree with Lin, that at this point, perhaps paper is the best choice because the recycling processes are already in place to handle paper.  They are not really widespread for handling bio-plastics.

According to the Plastics Recycling Association, the preferable shrink wrap in terms of recycling systems already in place and accessible, is PE film. (polyethylene)  https://www.plasticsrecycling.org/pe-film

(Unfortunately, the smell-through shrink wrap I do use, is not PE film, it is POF, so it too ends up in landfill, I guess and will never totally biodegrade according to this.  Bummer.)


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## KiwiMoose (Jun 22, 2019)

Yes - I have read similar on the use of compostable plastic @earlene. As always, there's so many things we, as consumers, need to know.  And then how do we decide what to do from there?  It would be nice to be plastic-free entirely, but how can we when so many of the items we purchase on a daily basis come in plastic?
I boast to people that handmade soap is 'plastic free' which it is if people are using it to replace the plastic bottle of liquid soap they currently buy.  But _my_ recycling bin at home is FULL of the plastic containers that I buy my oils in - big 2 litre buckets or 1 litre bottles from CO, Shea Butter, Castor Oil, Avocado Oil, etc. And the stuff i buy from the supermarket is in plastic - RBO, Olive Oil ( sometimes in glass) etc.
Not to mention my partner and I both recently started Isagenix and that's adding to our pile of plastics.
It's really quite distressing!
More recently, China, who previously took all of NZ plastic waste, have declared they will take no more because they have an overabundance.  So what becomes of all our plastic now?  Scary stuff.


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## earlene (Jun 22, 2019)

And who can blame them?   By taking the rest of the world's trash, China has become inundated with plastics pollutants themselves.  It's really high time the rest of the world dealt with their own trash rather than pawning it off on others.  The US is one of those countries, so I'm certainly not point fingers at any country in particular.  It is a global issue that has gone inadequately addresses for far too long.

Not that long ago (time being relative to age and memory, of course), the bottles of most of the products I used to buy were made of glass.  Milk bottles, oil bottles, canned foods bottles (some still are glass) and so on and so on.  I really liked the glass bottles and re-used them for as long as possible.  Most of my dry goods in my pantry are stored in glass jars and bottles saved over the years from such purchases.  Switching to plastic for dry goods storage has become necessary to come degree though, because as I age, my grip has become weaker.  So I have come to accept some plastics as a result.  

But as you say, a lot more plastic comes in and goes out of my home than when I was a young woman.  At least there are recycle codes now and more of it is recyclable than when I was buying Tupperware and other plastics that were not recyclable in my youth.


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## Lin19687 (Jun 24, 2019)

@earlene  Curious how you clean out some of the glass bottles.  It is the Oil bottles that just never seem to come clean.
The other day I had a bigger plastic bottle that had oils in it.  Just could NOT get it clean enough.  I thought about adding a bit o' Lye to it - to make it soap lol - but I ended up recycling it.  We do have a great recycling programs here in MASS


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## PattyB (Jun 24, 2019)

Dawn dish soap, baking soda and hot water is wonderful for getting rid of the oil slick in the glass bottles.  As far as handling glass jars in the bathroom...I'm thinking of gluing part of the glass containers by wrapping with jute or hemp rope.  I don't know if the feasibility and time is worth it.  But I'm going to put my feelers out with friends and family members (my guinea pigs) and get feedback.


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## Susie (Jun 24, 2019)

I use either Dawn or Member's Mark Degreaser (from Sam's) to get the oil slick out of glass bottles and jars.  Hottest water possible from the tap, then after it is almost full, add the Dawn/degreaser, top with lid.  Shake gently.  Allow to sit on the counter or in the sink until it is room temperature.  Works a charm.


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## earlene (Jun 24, 2019)

I wash my glass jars and bottles the same as I wash the rest of my dishes.  I do most of my dishes by hand most of the time.  But I do use the dishwasher for glass bottles that don't get clean enough by hand washing.   Or when there are a lot of them to wash.


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