London - Children love it and many adults can’t help but admit they find it strangely satisfying.
But popping plastic bubble wrap could soon be a thing of the past. A new version will not burst when you squeeze it.
It will be made of columns of linked air pockets instead of each bubble being separate. Pushing or squeezing just moves the air around, meaning there is no pop.
In the past, each bubble was separate, so you could squeeze each one and make it burst with a satisfying popping noise. The news was met with horror by fans of bubble wrap, which is so adored it has its own appreciation day, and a Facebook group called Popping Bubble Wrap that has more than half a million members.
On Twitter, Matthew Cowley wrote: “Oh no! How do I keep my kids happy?” Cynthe Crawford wrote: “No way!! Don’t they know that every adult turns into a child just at the sight of bubble wrap?”
Sealed Air Corp, which developed bubble wrap in the 1950s, said the new version, called iBubble, will use up around a fiftieth of the space as traditional bubble wrap because it will be shipped flat. Consumers and retailers such as Amazon will have to use a pump to inflate it. Traditionally, bubble wrap was shipped in massive pre-inflated rolls. Bubble wrap was created in 1957 by the co-founders of Sealed Air, who were experimenting with creating a new kind of wallpaper.
Alfred Fielding and his partner, a Swiss inventor called Marc Chavannes, were tinkering in his garage in Hawthorne, New Jersey, when they realised that their invention could be used for packaging.
Sealed Air said the traditional bubble wrap will still continue to be sold alongside the new version – for now.
Daily Mail