US-based firm Sealed Air is launching a non-popping variant of Bubble Wrap plastic packaging material.
Bubble Wrap contain pockets of trapped air for cushioning fragile items during transit.
The new iBubble Wrap is being developed to save space in warehouses and transport carriages.
The material is easily transportable as it can be carried in the form of thin sheets. The sheets are pumped with air using a pump. This process needs 50 times of lesser space than that of Bubble Wrap.
The new version resembles the original Bubble Wrap with a difference that it has got an interconnected network of air bubbles that provide resistance when subjected to pressure.
The company is betting big on the product as the rise of online retailing demands space-saving measures.
Sealed Air invented Bubble Wrap in 1957 and its patent expired in 1981.
Sales of the product have witnessed a down swing with the product forming only 3.6% of the company's total sales in 2012, as against 5.7% in 2010.
Due to the bulk size of Bubble Wrap, Sealed Air has restricted the delivery of the product to 150 miles from its manufacturing units, reported the Wall Street Journal.
