What is the history of EPS loose fill?
EPS loose fill was invented in the years following World War II when advances in plastics technology met the demand for cleaner and lighter weight substitutes for the household or barnyard packaging materials that soldiers used to ship home their valuables. On receipt, packages stuffed with popcorn, paper and rubberized horse hair void-fills often arrived with vermin, debris and broken pieces of the valuables they were meant to protect. Contaminated boxes and the introduction of foreign born pests led to the military and postal services banning food-based packaging materials. As America prospered in the fifties, businesses and consumers ordered more products by mail. Packaging technology evolved to meet America’s rapidly growing shipping needs. One of these developments was EPS loose fill. Its light weight and strong cushioning abilities literally filled the void between the product and the package exterior walls. The first EPS loose fill manufacturer was Dow Chemical. Styrene resin wa
