Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day

What the day is

Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day is observed on January 25. It is generally traced to a radio station in Indiana in the early 2000s, after a delivery of the stuff produced an unplanned amount of on-air popping.

Origin and background

The material was not invented for packaging. In 1957 two engineers, Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes, sealed two shower curtains together and trapped air between them, intending to sell it as textured wallpaper. Nobody wanted it. They tried again as greenhouse insulation, which also went nowhere. Packaging was the third attempt, and it worked when a computer manufacturer adopted it to ship machines, which were expensive, fragile and newly being sent long distances.

The protection comes from the air rather than the plastic. Each sealed pocket has to be compressed before the object inside feels anything, so the bubbles spread a sudden impact across time and across a wider area, which is the same principle as a crumple zone. Once a bubble bursts it has spent itself, which is why re-used wrap protects progressively less.

The popping is genuinely compulsive and has been studied a little, with the usual finding that repetitive small tactile actions are mildly calming. What is not in doubt is that it is satisfying enough for the manufacturer to have released a version with bubbles connected by channels, so air moves between them instead of bursting. It ships flatter and cannot be popped, and was received about as warmly as you would expect.

The environmental position is mixed. Plastic film is difficult to recycle through curbside collection, though it is accepted at many supermarket bag points, and paper-based alternatives now perform comparably for most goods.

How to take part

• Pop some. The day exists for this.
• Reuse what arrives rather than buying new, since most parcels supply plenty.
• Wrap fragile items with the bubbles facing inward, which is the correct way and widely done backwards.
• Take film to a supermarket collection point rather than the household bin.
• Try the paper honeycomb alternative and see whether you miss it.