How do I buy Sealed Air® products?
For the occasional user of mailing and shipping supplies, Sealed Air Bubble Wrap® cushioning and Jiffy Mailer® products can be purchased at office supply stores, post offices, major drug store chains, mass merchants and packaging stores. Instapak Quick® packaging can be purchased on our site (continental US only) or through a number of office supply and packaging catalogs.
For protective packaging materials and systems or those interested in purchasing shrink packaging materials or systems, please contact a Sealed Air sales or customer service location nearest you for the name and phone number of the Sealed Air representative and/or local authorized paper and packaging distributor of Sealed Air® products.
Cryovac® food packaging materials and systems are sold direct to meat processing and food processing customers who serve the supermarket and foodservice industries. Contact the Cryovac location nearest you, to have a Cryovac sales professional contact you.
How do I get pricing information?
Pricing for Sealed Air® products is only available through Sealed Air representatives and authorized distributors of Sealed Air® products and systems.
If you wish to receive pricing on Sealed Air® protective packaging and shrink packaging products, please contact a Sealed Air sales or customer service location nearest you for the name and phone number of the Sealed Air representative and/or local authorized distributor of Sealed Air® products and systems.
Cryovac® food packaging materials and systems are sold directly to meat processing and food processing customers who serve the supermarket and foodservice industries. Contact the Cryovac location nearest you to have a Cryovac sales professional contact you regarding pricing.
How do I find a distributor?
To locate an authorized Sealed Air distributor of protective packaging and shrink packaging, please contact Sealed Air customer service.
Cryovac® food packaging materials and systems are sold directly to meat processing and food processing customers who serve the supermarket and foodservice industries. Contact the Cryovac location nearest you to speak with a Cryovac sales professional.
Distributors of Instapak Quick® bags (in the US, Canada and Mexico) are listed on our site and can be contacted directly.
How is Bubble Wrap® packaging made?
Bubble Wrap® brand cushioning starts as polyethylene (plastic) resin, in the form of beads about the size of small peas. The beads go into an extruder - a long cylinder with a screw inside that runs its entire length. As the screw is turned, heat builds up and the resin melts into a liquid that is squeezed out of the cylinder into two stacked sheets of clear plastic film. One layer of the film is wrapped around a drum with holes punched in it, and suction is applied drawing one web of film into the holes that form the bubbles. The second layer of film is then laminated over the first so that when the two films are joined, they stick together and trap the air in the bubbles.
This may sound easy, but polyethylene is a porous material like a sponge. Air can easily leak out through the pores, which tends to limit the cushioning ability of the packaging. Realizing this, Sealed Air started using a Saran coating to seal the air in the bubbles. Eventually, a method of encapsulating an air retention barrier in the polyethylene during the extrusion process was developed. This process is a trade secret of Sealed Air Corporation.
Who invented Bubble Wrap® packaging?
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| Marc Chavannes | Al Fielding |
The story begins in a building no bigger than a garage in Hawthorne, NJ with two engineers, Marc Chavannes and Al Fielding. Marc and Al were trying to make a plastic wallpaper with a paper backing. Surprisingly, this product didn't take off. They quickly realized, however, that their invention could be used as a cushioning material for packaging. At that time, only abrasive paper products were used for packaging, which did not suffice for cushioning heavy or delicate items. They founded Sealed Air Corporation in 1960, and today, Sealed Air is a leading global manufacturer of a wide range of food and protective packaging materials and systems with annual revenues in excess of four billion dollars.
Sealed Air is featured in a number of Harvard Business School Case Studies. Can I get an update on what actions Sealed Air took to solve the problems or opportunities featured in the cases?
Sealed Air personnel have been advised not to provide details or specific results of situations described in case studies written about our products or company. The cases are meant to provide an educational challenge and encourage discussion of the facts presented. Prior annual reports are available through libraries and may be a good source of information.
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