A timeline of evolution of packaging and materials used
So how did these packaging solutions come into being? Packaging is a development process, and the result of many years of innovation – in some cases accidental.
 PAPER/CLOTH
Cloth or paper may be the oldest form of flexible packaging.
lSecond century BC: Chinese used sheets of treated mulberry bark to wrap foods, and later developed and refined the techniques of papermaking.
1867: the process for deriving fibre from wood pulp developed.
1844: Commercial paper bags first manufactured in Bristol, England.
1817: The first paperboard carton produced in England, more than two hundred years after the Chinese invented cardboard or paperboard.
1850s: Corrugated cardboard came to use.
1870s: The first automatically made carton 'accidentally' created by Robert Gair.
 GLASS
7000 BC: Glass-making began as an offshoot of pottery
1500 BC: First industrialised in Egypt
1200 BC: Glass pressed into moulds to make cups and bowls.
300 BC: Blowpipe invented by the Phoenicians, speeding production
1600-1700s: The split mould developed, providing for irregular shapes, raised decorations, and identification of the maker and the product name.
1889: The first automatic rotary bottle-making machine patented.
 METALS
Ancient boxes and cups were made from silver and gold.
1200 AD: The process of tin plating discovered in Bohemia.
1764: London tobacconists began selling snuff in metal canisters.
1809: Nicholas Appert used tin containers to preserve foods for General Napoleon Bonaparte’s army, who offered 12,000 francs for the task.
1810: Peter Durand of Britain received patent for tinplate after devising the sealed cylindrical can.
1866: The first printed metal boxes made in the United States for cakes of Dr. Lyon's tooth powder.
1868: Interior enamels for cans developed.
1950s: The first aluminum foil containers designed, and aluminum can appeared in 1959.
1841: Collapsible, soft metal tubes, first used for artists paints.
 PLASTICS
lNineteenth century: Several plastics discovered – styrene in 1831, vinyl chloride in 1835, and celluloid in the late 1860s – but became practical for packaging in the 20th century.
1950s: Styrofoam available worldwide. Insulation and cushioning materials, foam boxes, cups and meat trays became popular.
1947: Moulded deodorant squeeze bottles introduced.
1958: Heat shrinkable films developed from blending styrene with synthetic rubber.
1900: Cellulose acetate derived from wood pulp, and developed for photographic uses in 1909.
1924: DuPont manufactured cellophane in New York, commercially used for packaging in the late 1950s and early
1960s.
1933: Polyethylene film wraps protected submarine telephone cables and later used for World War II radar cables and drug tablet packaging.
1977: Polyethylene terephthalate (PETE) used for beverages. By 1980, foods and other hot-fill products, such as jams, packaged in PETE.
The research to find better methods of packaging goods is an ongoing process, and forms an extremely dynamic industry. Packaging is one industry that creates wealth through the manufacturing activities, and also preserves the wealth or value created by many other industries through its services. It is crucial for every economy, in terms of technological advancement and the scale of its services.
The turnover of the world packaging industry in 2004 was US $485 billion and the worldwide demand is expected to reach US $570 billion by 2009.
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