Inside Outdoor Fall 2016

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For sporting goods retail-
ers tired of the space, cost and
messiness of using polystyrene
peanuts in shipping boxes
(recycled peanuts or not), the
new Fill-Air FLOW provides
an interesting and affordable
alternative. Replacing packing
peanuts for relative peanuts, the
$475 inflatable packaging sys-
tem makes protective air pillows
similar to those used by Amazon
and other large online dealers
affordable for the first time.
According to Sealed Air,
inventor of the original Bubble
Wrap and many other packag-
ing solutions sold worldwide, the
Fill-Air FLOW provides a space-
saving, cost-saving and environ-
mentally friendly alternative to
using polystyrene peanuts as
void-fill and cushioning in pack-
ing boxes, making protective air
pillows accessible for users with
low-volume shipping needs and
limited space in back rooms.
The inflation unit is mounted
to a wall or tabletop. A single
roll of ready-to-inflate plastic
bags frees up nearly 50 cubic
feet of storage space compared
to packing peanuts and also
costs less than the equivalent
peanut fill volume. The system
also offers better shipping pro-
tection, neater packaging for
customers and an eco-friendly
alternative to polystyrene, says
Millennium Packaging, which is
the exclusive U.S. distributor of
the Fill-Air FLOW.
The mounted device produces
11 high-fill or 20 low-fill inflated
plastic bags per minute. Both
the machine’s 13″ x 14″ x 8″
footprint and the inflation speed
are suited to environments with
moderate shipping volumes such
as retail shipping service cen-
ters, retail stores, e-tailers, light
industry, company mail rooms,
marketing and advertising agen-
cies, printers, law firms, artists’
studios, art festivals and more,
said the company.
Each FLOW roll contains 500
10″ x 8″ ready-to-fill perforated
bags in a spool not much larger
than a roll of paper towels. A
single roll produces fill volume
equivalent to more than three-
and-a-half 14-cubic-foot bags of
packing peanuts, freeing up near-
ly 50 cubic feet of storage space
per roll. At $50 per 500-bag roll,
inflatable packaging with Fill-Air
FLOW costs roughly $1 per cubic
foot of fill compared to $1.30 to
$1.90 per cubic foot for retail-
priced packing peanuts. The refill
rolls also are available exclusively
from Millennium Packaging.
Operation of the Fill-Air
FLOW is as simple as swiping
a hand over a sensor located
on the side of the unit for each
bag desired, or holding a hand
over the sensor for three sec-
onds to inflate 100 bags at a
time. High-fill or low-fill can
also be selected with the touch
of a button. An optional photo
sensor attachment for use with
a continuous flow setting will
stop production when it detects
a set number of inflated bags
and resume it when the bags
are removed, making it possible
to have bags ready for immedi-
ate use without inflating the
whole roll at one time.
“Major retailers like Ama-
zon have been using inflatable
packaging technology for years,
but until now the price point
has prevented smaller organiza-
tions from realizing the ben-
efits,” said John Tyrrell, presi-
dent of Millennium Packaging.
“At less than $500, Sealed Air’s
Fill-Air FLOW enables compa-
nies of any size to send peanuts
packing forever.”
“The Fill-Air FLOW has
changed everything. It’s more
efficient, less material, less
packing time, and the space sav-
ings is unbelievable,” said Helen
Ann Lally of Your Neighborhood
Office, a business help center
and errand service in New York’s
Greenwich Village that was an
early tester. “When we took the
peanut hopper out of here, I was
able to put in drop ceilings that
gave me another floor of stor-
age space.”
For more information or to
order the Fill-Air FLOW, visit
“At less than
$500, Sealed
Air’s Fill-Air
FLOW enables
companies
of any size
to send peanuts
packing forever.”
Affordable Packaging System Replaces
Annoying Peanuts
FLOOR SPACE
By Martin Vilaboy
The new Fill-Air FLOW system
makes protective air pillows
affordable even for users with low-
volume shipping needs.
Inside Outdoor | Fall 2016 44