Filtration and Packaging - Essay Example

the determination of the packing material depends on the nature, type, use and duration of the product. The other factors that influence packing are attractive designs, costs, customer preferences etc (History of packaging and types of packaging.2009). One of the significant determinants in selecting the ideal packing material is of course its cost effectiveness. It this regard, glass stands to be the most appropriate one because around 25% of the raw material cost can be attributable to a glass packing material.

Whereas it is around 70-80% for a metallic packing material. Use of chemicals and innovations in this area has made glass one of the most popular packing materials now. But this enthusiasm is limited because due to the increased capital expenditure that is related to use of modern sophisticated glass in the packing industry (Packaging Materials. 2011). Glass has lots of interesting peculiarities to be the most popular packing material that consumers prefer. Among other things that make glass ideal for food and beverage packing is that they are either transparent or opaque.

This makes the customers to have a first hand vision of the product before they buy it. Moreover the strength, and the ability to have a barrier to water as well as gas and inertness to toxic chemical substances, makes glass the ideal choice (PACKAGING MATERIALS. 2009). Consumers all around the globe prefer glass as packing material especially in the case of packing food and other beverages. They are reluctant to use plastic because of its non friendly environmental and health nature. The main facts that make glass popular among the consumers are purity, recyclables, quality, safety and versatility.

Glass packaging supports all these things therefore consumers prefer it. Although almost ninety percentages of the consumers prefer glass to be their preferred choice for packing, it is estimated that glass accounts to only ten percentage of the market share for packaging in the food and beverage category. This clearly suggests that some thing is wrong somewhere. Glass packaging even though popular has not been seen in shelves of stores (Glass is The Consumers Preferred Packaging Material. 2011).

In spite of being popular with the customers who prefer glass as a packing material, glass suffers from lots of disadvantage. Predominant among them is its disability to withstand shocks. Glass containers are easily breakable. This prompts the customer to take extra care on it. Other that that breakage of containers also creates small glass pieces inside. This if not noticed enters the body of the person who use it resulting in serious health damage and even death. Therefore use of glass containers is not at all recommended especially for children who are more vulnerable to injuries caused by glass through its use.

Other main draw backs are compromise on the hermetic seal of the containers, color changes of the product due to more exposure to light. This draw back is so acute for beverage products where glass containers permit more sunlight to penetrate inside thereby resulting in damages and loss to the product. Although glass has high barrier properties as well as inertness and adaptable to microwave processing, it is sometimes overweight. This overweight somewhat affects the moods of customers too. More and more customers prefer to carry less weighable things rather those products having more weight.