It may seem that today ’ s packaging is all about sustainability but protecting goods and keeping things fresh has been packing ’ s most important function - right back into prehistory .
1760-1840 1900s
1957- present
Tin cans and cardboard boxes
The Industrial Revolution saw major technological advancements , fueled by a surge in new mass-produced products . For the first time food could be preserved by boiling and sealing in airtight glass containers . It ’ s the same method we use today , with canned foods . Tin-plated steel cans replaced glass , and cardboard boxes were also first used to transport goods such as cloth and eggs .
Paper bags and cellophane
Mass-produced paper bags were becoming commonplace for ad hoc packaging , while in the US the Kellogg brothers began using cardboard to distribute and market their cereal , from 1906 . Meanwhile , in Switzerland , chemist Jacques Brandenberger was busy discovering cellophane , as he searched for a material that wouldn ’ t absorb liquids .
Bubble-wrap , pop-tabs and plastics
Bubble-wrap was invented in 1957 by the Sealed Air company ; the pop tab was invented by Ermal Fraze of DRT Manufacturing , as a way to consume canned drinks without a tin-opener ; and the bete noire of today ’ s packaging - plastic - was introduced as polyethylene terephthalate ( PET ) bottles , patented in 1973 by American chemist , Nathaniel Wyeth .
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