Foam peanut
loose-fill packaging made from plastic foam
Foam peanuts, also known as foam popcorn, packing peanuts, or packing noodles, are a common loose-fill packaging and cushioning material used to prevent damage to fragile objects during shipping. They are shaped to interlock when compressed and free flow when not compressed. They are roughly the size and shape of an unshelled peanut and commonly made of expanded polystyrene foam. 50–75 millimetres (2-3 in) of peanuts are typically used for cushioning and void filling packaging applications. The original patent was filed for by Robert E. Holden in 1962 and was granted in 1965.
Polystyrene foam
Polystyrene-based packing peanuts were developed and patented by Tektronix Inc. They were made commercially available circa 1965 by Dow Chemical. Originally made from 100% virgin polystyrene resin, peanuts made from 100% recycled polystyrene have been commercially available since the mid-90s. The color and shape sometimes indicate what it is made of and who made it. Often green is 70% or possibly more recycled polystyrene, white is 70% or more virgin resin and pink means an antistatic agent has been applied; although there are some variations.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Foam peanut” is loose-fill packaging made from plastic foam. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Foam, peanut and loose-fill, not as a finished interpretation.
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This entry incorporates text from “Foam peanut” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.