Atlantic Poly Blog

While many people debate paper or plastic, and some grocery stores are opting for reusable cloth bags, there is still a place for plastic grocery bags. Many customers are educated and informed and understand that despite the conversation, plastic bags are still the better choice. In fact, most plastic grocery bag users will reuse those same bags.

This is where branding plastic bags is a good idea. When bags are re-used your brand gets more visibility. Plastic bags are reusable and in fact, are re-used very often. Just think about your own household and how often you reuse the plastic grocery bags in your home. Plastic t-shirt bags are used for transporting items, as school lunch bags, and as easy travel bags, among other purposes.

There are many people in many households that, after choosing plastic grocery bags, will then choose to reuse them again and again. Grocery stores, clothing stores, gift shops and other retail stores use plastic bags for their customers to transport their purchases. And these same customers are using those same plastic bags in their personal lives. There are so many uses for plastic bags.

For convenient, durable reusable, environmentally-friendly bags, contact Atlantic Poly. Don’t be fooled by the hype about reusable bags and paper bags.

More and more homeowners are remodeling. More and more remodeling companies, builders, painters and contractors are getting busier. You can get even more business through referrals. Referrals happen for many reasons. Most are a result of the finished product, many are from the customer service, and some are because of the employees. But for remodeling companies, painters, and contractors did you know that neatness makes a difference to your customers?

Women drive the home remodeling industry. Contractors need to keep the customers, the homeowners, happy by controlling dust from remodeling projects with surface protection and dust shields. Renovation projects are hard enough on the home or business owner, keeping the dust and mess to a minimum is helpful and ‘referral worthy’ to any customer.

Hardwood floors and carpets can be protected and preserved with floor protection film. If you are remodeling a home or business, temporary walls or dust shields can also be used to control dust and debris from entering the spaces that cannot be separated with doors or existing walls. Temporary walls are perfect for protecting adjacent rooms.

Whether you are a painter, renovator, or contractor you need the job site to remain clean and organized for the owners. At the end of the day, the neater and more dust-free the home, the more neighbors they will tell.

Protect  carpets, floors and other rooms with plastic, disposable surface protection products from Atlantic Poly, contact us.

Myth #1: Plastic bag bans are spreading like wildfire across the country.

Fact: No. In fact, plastic bags have not been banned anywhere. San Francisco is requiring that consumers use compostable plastic bags instead of 100% recyclable bags. Contrary to popular belief, there is a growing movement to increase access to recycle plastic bags – not eliminate them. New Jersey, Connecticut, and cities in California have all taken recent action to table legislation that would ban certain types of plastic bags and instead are now looking to implement plastic bag recycling programs.

Myth #2: Paper grocery bags are a better environmental choice than plastic grocery bags.

Fact: Plastic bags are 100% recyclable and for all environmental impacts related to air emissions, water emissions and solid waste – those of paper bags are significantly greater than that of plastic grocery bags:

• Plastic bags use 40% less energy to produce and generate 80% less solid waste than paper
• Paper bags generate 70% more emissions, and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags.
• Even paper bags made from 100% recycled fiber use more fossil fuels than plastic bags

Myth #3: Plastic bags are the largest component of landfills and the primary component of litter.

Fact: The item most frequently encountered in landfills is paper—on average, it accounts for more than 40% of a landfill's contents. Newspapers alone take up as much as 13% of landfill space.

Myth #4: Plastic grocery bags take 1,000 years to decompose in landfills.

Fact: Virtually nothing – not paper, food, plastic or even compostable or bio degradable products – decompose in today’s landfills, because they are actually designed to be as stable and dry as possible.

Myth #5: Plastic bags feed America’s addiction to oil.

Fact: Plastic bags are extraordinarily energy-efficient to manufacture. Less than .05% of a barrel of oil goes into making all the plastic bags used in the US while 93% - 95% of every barrel of crude oil is burned for fuel and heating purposes. Plastic bags actually consume less fossil fuels during their lifetime than do compostable plastic and paper bags.

Myth #6: Compostable plastic bags can degrade in backyard composts.

Fact: In order to breakdown, compostable bags must be sent to an industrial composting facility, not backyard piles or municipal composting centers. There are very few of these facilities in the U.S. and where these facilities are not available, compostable bags will sit in landfills because they can’t be recycled.

Myth #7: For people who live near water, paper bags are the environmentally friendly choice to protect marine wildlife.

Fact: Since paper bag production has more negative environmental impacts related to air emissions, water emissions and solid waste than plastic grocery bags, they’re not a solution.

Myth #8: Low recycling rates for plastic bags prove recycling them doesn’t work.

Fact: Recycling does work. The problem is not everyone knows that plastic grocery bags are 100% recyclable and not everyone has access to plastic bag recycling in their community. A national at-store plastic bag recycling program would bring the recycling solution to everyone and increase rates.

Myth #9: Recycling plastic bags is too expensive.

Fact: The price of not recycling them is high. Recycling can help save resources and minimize the amount of waste going to landfills. Also, recycling helps reduce litter, as bags are contained and stored. It’s worth noting that it takes 91% less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper.

Myth #10: There’s no demand for recycled plastic.

Fact: Today there is a growing market for recycled plastic that didn’t exist 15 years ago. It’s also cheaper now to use recycled plastic than to obtain new materials, increasing potential for more recycling of used plastic bags. Recycled plastic grocery and shopping bags are currently being made into new consumer products such as clean new plastic shopping bags, outdoor decking and railing products.

Contact Atlantic Poly for information plastic bags and plastics product.

plasticsindustry.org

In today’s economy companies have to be even more conscientious about improving their bottom line. This means making better buying decisions, better labor decisions and perhaps cutting some corners.  However, did you know that you can also cut back when it comes to trash disposal and waste collection?

Most companies pay per pickup and what they pay depends on how much waste is picked up. It is very important for companies to cut down on their waste. Atlantic Poly, a plastic bag and products company in MA, can help your business cut back and cut items out of your waste stream.

Atlantic Poly can help your business with its recycling efforts:

• Help your company's bottom line
• Help the environment
• Reduce your waste disposal costs
• Possible tax benefits for recycling material

Not only does this help your bottom line, it also helps your business become more socially responsible. And your company can take advantage of this in its marketing efforts. Potential customers like to purchase from companies that have a sense of social responsibility, that are cutting down on their carbon footprint, and that recycle.

If you are disposing of plastic materials in your business including: stretch film, pallet wrap, poly bags, poly films, or LDPE and HDPE, we can help you save your business money.  Atlantic Poly will take this would-be waste and turn it into usable American made plastics products such as plastic bags and roll-off dumpster liners.

For more information, contact Atlantic Poly.

There are many industries and sectors that can make use of plastic name badge holders: students and school visitors, teachers and professors, sales representatives and company and municipal employees. Name badges can be used for security and medical clearance and in the biotech industry or companies with government contracts ID badges are a must. Plastic ID holders are also ideal for temporary workers, contractors or class trips.

Vinyl name badges keep work, government, medical and school environments safe and secure. They are reusable which cuts down on waste as well. The ID pouch is made out of vinyl with pins, clips, lanyards so they can stay attached to employees. For added convenience they come in all shapes, sizes, colors and orientations.

There is an added benefit to plastic ID badges, use them to promote your brand while you are identifying attendees, employees or staff. Secure ID cards and ID badges can ensure enhanced security and integrity of a work place or school.

For more information on vinyl ID badge holders, contact Atlantic Poly.

Online sales are increasing. As time becomes more of a rare commodity, more and more consumers are ordering products online.  For businesses who ship goods, the cost of packaging materials becomes a concern when trying to manage the bottom line.

But it is not just the quality of the shipping materials that is of concern. Being sure that your product is well protected during shipping is imperative. Returns and re-shipments can also add up if products arrive damaged.

Numerous markets and industries ship ships products and materials and those that do require bulk shipping materials like bubble wrap, packing slips, corrugated boxes and stretch film. For items that require strict shipping requirements, for fagile items and for high cost electronics, the product range of the packing materials from Atlantic Poly cover all your businesses shipping needs.

Our Shipping Materials includes:

Packing List Envelopes
Packing List Envelopes protect invoices, shipping lists and other documents. Clear pouches on packing list envelopes allow them to be read easily. Other packing pouches with a full face keep contents confidential. Pressure-sensitive envelopes and labels attach easily and securely to the mailing containers.

Tapes
Masking Tape performs incredibly in temperatures up to 200ºF.  We also offer Non-Asphaltic Sealing Tape is water activated tape which is reinforced with glass fibers that adds structural strength and stability.  Plastic Sealing Tape is perfect for sealing cartons and is available in clear or tan. Glass Filament Tape provides the strength of steel strapping.

Bubble Pack
Bubble Wrap provides protection for fragile items or electronics. It protects against shock, vibration or abrasion. Bubble Wrap is easy to use and reduces packaging time and labor. It comes in rolls, bags, sheets, dispenser packs or as anti-static. Bubble bags can be customized for all sizes and weights.

Packing List Envelopes 
Packing List Envelopes protect invoices, shipping lists and other documents.

Pressure Sensitive Labels
We stock more than 365 different types of pressure sensitive labels. We offer 500 labels per roll.

To contact Atlantic Poly for quotes or information on packing supplies, click “packing materials”.

Basically, dumpster liners are massive garbage bags. Of course they are a bit more complicated than that, they differ in size, color, thickness and uses. Different companies have different needs that demand different dumpster liner requirements.

Dumpster liners are the easiest most versatile solution for every industry in order to provide an extra level of protection for hazardous waste or to just better contain waste.  Concrete companies, asbestos abatement companies, environmental service companies and many more rely on roll-off dumpster liners to contain materials which may be harmful to people or the environment.

Roll-off dumpster liners have many purposes. Mainly they offer protections against damaging spills, seepage and overflow. The dumpster liners shorten clean up time by keeping waste more easily contained.

Because dumpster liners act as a barrier between a dumpster and its contents, they must need to be made in various gauges to maintain integrity and protect from contamination. Dumpster liners also reduce potential leakage, lower wash-out costs and increase dumpster longevity.  They are naturally resistant to water, oil, grease, and most chemicals, and they are designed to resist punctures, tears and abrasions.  For a quote, contact Atlantic Poly.

Are grocery bags made other materials such as paper or compostable plastics really better for the environment than traditional plastic grocery bags? There is no conclusive evidence supporting the argument that banning single use plastic bags in favor of paper bags will reduce litter, decrease the country’s dependence on oil, or lower the quantities of solid waste going to landfills. In addition, there is limited information on the environmental attributes of compostable plastics and how they fare against traditional plastic grocery bags or paper bags.

So, in order to glean information on the environmental impacts of grocery bags, the Progressive Bag Alliance contracted with Boustead Consulting & Associates (BCAL) to conduct a life cycle assessment on three types of grocery bags:

• a traditional grocery bag made from polyethylene,
• a grocery bag made from compostable plastics (a blend of 65% EcoFlex, 10% polylactic acid or PLA, and 25% calcium carbonate),
• and a paper grocery bag made using at least 30% recycled fibers.

The life cycle assessment factored in every step of the manufacturing, distribution, and disposal stages of these grocery bags.

The results show that single use plastic bags made from polyethylene have many advantages over both compostable plastic bags and paper bags made with a minimum of 30% recycled fiber.

When compared to 30% recycled fiber paper bags, polyethylene grocery bags use less energy in terms of fuels for manufacturing, less oil, and less potable water. In addition, polyethylene plastic grocery bags emit fewer global warming gases, less acid rain emissions, and less solid wastes. The same exists when comparing the typical polyethylene grocery bag to grocery bags made with compostable plastic resins— traditional plastic grocery bags use less energy in terms of fuels for manufacturing, less oil, and less potable water, and emit fewer global warming gases, less acid rain emissions, and less solid wastes.

The findings of this study were peer reviewed by an independent third party to ensure that the results are reliable and repeatable. The results support the conclusion that any decision to ban traditional polyethylene plastic grocery bags in favor of bags made from alternative materials will result in a significant increase in environmental impacts across a number of categories from global warming effects to the use of precious potable water resources. As a result, consumers should re-evaluate decisions to use or ban traditional plastic grocery bags, as the unintended consequences can be significant and long-lasting.

For more information on plastic grocery bags, contact Atlantic Poly, a plastic bag and products company in MA.

Information - http://static.reuseit.com/PDFs/Boustead%20Associates.pdf

At Atlantic Poly we offer a wide range of packaging. Shrink wrap is a safe, secure and easy way to ship and store. Our film supplies include:

Stretch Film is not a very expensive protective plastic wrap which can be used on all kinds of materials including machinery, chemicals, palatalized items, and furniture.  Stretch film stretches to wrap around objects tightly, it does not require heat to secure it.

Hand Held Film has super tight wrap which reduces separation during shipping and increases security against pilferage. This film is wrapped by hand and does not require extra machinery.

Machine wrap is used for the same types of applications. However, machine wrap may be used for companies that use more film or shrink wrap.

Pallet Stretch Wrap protects materials and products from dirt, moisture and theft.

We also carry options of discount shrink film for a more economical option.

We can help you choose the best film for your application. If you want to improve your packaging costs, or if you are a company that needs to cut down on product breakage or pilfering, our packaging films are the perfect option to bring down costs.
 
Regardless of if you need hand stretch wrap or pallet wrap for a larger operation, our stretch films are what companies use and trust which are puncture resistant and can retain very heavy loads with outstanding tear resistance with superior stretch and cling.

For great quality and great value on film packaging, contact Atlantic Poly.

With the completion out there today, it is important that you build your reputation through everything you do..and don’t do. As a construction company, when you DON’T leave a mess, your customers love you.  Surface protection and dust barriers can help build your reputation and therefore your referral business. Dust is part of the deal during home remodeling, home additions, or when refinishing hardwood floors.
 
Remodeling projects, whether commercial or residential, bring with them stress. As a contractor, you can lower that stress by keeping the remodeling environment clean with floor and carpet protection and dust barriers. When you leave at the end of the day, and your workspace is as clean as when you arrive, you clients are happy. They tell their friends.

It is important that the sites in which you work remain clean and organized for the owners. Leaving the site useable for the owners makes a great impression and dust barriers and floor surface protection is the way to do it.

Want to increase your business? With plastic, disposable surface protection products from Atlantic Poly, you can keep your clients happy by protecting their carpets and floors.  For more information, contact us.