The next time you’re at the grocery store or your favorite retailer, take a look around. You’ll notice many products on the shelves are packaged differently than they were several years ago.

More and more consumer goods come in what’s called flexible packaging. You might call them bags or pouches. These packages are often replacing the kinds of rigid containers you were used to seeing in stores, like boxes, tubs, tins, and jars.

From sour cream you can squeeze to cereal bags you can keep fresh with a resealable closure, we’re in the middle of a shift to a new kind of packaging.

The rise of flexible packaging has been impressive, and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down. That’s because bags, pouches, and other types of flexible packages offer many conveniences to both brands as well as shoppers.

However, when it comes to certain types of products, flexible packages also need a closure that can help keep kids safe.

How Flexible Packaging Makes Life Easier

Makers of consumer packaged goods appreciate flexible packages like standup pouches because they can be made using a variety of materials in practically any shape and size. They are lightweight, making them easy to ship, and are less wasteful, which makes them a more sustainable type of packaging.

Flexible packaging helps improve life at home, too! Here are 4 reasons why …

1. Resealability

Perhaps the biggest benefit of flexible packages is that they can be designed to be resealable.

The ability to reclose a package with a nice, tight seal helps keep food fresh and helps you avoid spills in cupboards and fridges. Food packaged with a resealable closure has a longer shelf life, which means you throw less food away.

A flexible package equipped with a zipper or slider is undeniably more convenient! You won’t have to sift through that junk drawer to find twist-ties and chip-clips anymore.

2. Easier to Use

Many brands are getting creative with how they use flexible packaging. It’s lead to some great ideas that solve problems and make products easier to use.

For example, have you seen the new squeezable Daisy® Sour Cream?

This type of flexible packaging includes a fitment allowing you to squirt the perfect amount of sour cream on your tacos and baked potatoes.  No more contaminating the sour cream with other food on the spoon.

Why get sugar in a paper bag when you can store it in a flexible package with a slider or a spout?

Another product that’s benefited from flexible packaging is baby food. Parents love the little pouches that allow toddlers to feed themselves pureed fruits and veggies!

3. Saves Space

If you want to cut down on the clutter in your cupboards at home, stand-up pouches can help.

As you consume products in rigid containers, the packaging stays the same size. However, a flexible package can be compacted as you use it. That saves room on your shelves, and in your trash can or recycling bin.

4. Environmentally Friendly

Americans create a lot of waste. The Center for Sustainability & Commerce at Duke University estimates the typical U.S. consumer generates 4.3 pounds of waste every day.

The lightweight nature of flexible packaging helps reduce waste in two ways:

• Less fuel/energy is used during shipping and transportation.
• Less material is used to make the package, leaving less in landfills.

Manufacturers of flexible packaging continue to investigate ways to make it even more environmentally friendly, that includes developing material that decomposes easily.

Resealable pouches can also be reused. As long as you make sure to clean out the inside of the package, it can still serve a purpose, helping you store other things.

Why a Child-Resistant Closure Makes Sense

As we all enjoy the convenience of resealable packaging, we also need to consider how to keep kids safe.

It’s much more than food products being packaged in flexible material. Household cleaners, lawn and garden chemicals, over-the-counter medications, and many other goods are also taking advantage of flexible packaging options.

Some of these products may pose a potential risk to curious young children. While it is still important for parents to keep those products out of reach, child-resistant packaging can be an additional line of defense that helps prevent kids from accessing things they shouldn’t and gives parents extra time to respond.

Child-resistant packaging works and has been proven to save lives. The child-safety caps you are no doubt familiar with led to a dramatic drop in accidental exposures to medications.

With so many different products being packaged with flexible materials, the existence of a child-resistant closure for this type of packaging is crucial.

How Child-Guard^® Can Help

The packaging industry and makers of consumer goods share a responsibility to keep kids safe. That’s why there’s Child-Guard^®, a child-resistant closure designed specifically for flexible packaging.

You’ll already see Child-Guard^® being used on stand-up pouches containing popular single use laundry packets. It may also be branded as Slider-Guard™.

But … this is just the beginning!

You can help improve household safety for young children by voting with your wallet. Every time you purchase products using the Child-Guard^® child-resistant closure, you’re sending a message that you want additional safety on the packages you buy.

You can also help spread the word on social media. Do you have an idea for a type of product in need of a child-resistant closure?

Tell the world on social media and use the hashtag #guardit!

Like us on Facebook for more helpful home safety advice, and find out more about Child-Guard^® in the video below …