Popcorn Pops Up as New Way to Pack Breakable Items

Businessman Steve Sommer didn’t like feeling guilty about possible damage to the environment, so he started substituting popcorn for plastic foam packing in the boxes he uses to ship foods.

He has a lot of company from other entrepreneurs in his area.

Popcorn, said Sommer--the same food people munch in the movies--”is naturally biodegradable, so you may feed it to the birds or use it as mulch in your garden,” adding that it is probably too stale for human consumption.

Sommer figures also on a tidy fallout for his Alexander Fruit & Trading Co. He thinks that packaging-popcorn sales might rival his existing $500,000-a-year gourmet wine and food company. Prospective customers are excited by the idea, he said.

Still, there are important questions about the unique use for the exploded kernels of hard corn. It has to possess all the right cushioning properties.

“We’ve just started using it and we haven’t had any complaints from customers yet,” said Janet Churchill, packaging boss for Montessori Services in Santa Rosa, Calif.

The welcome mat for popcorn-for-plastic also was offered by Joan Graham, co-owner of a Sonoma crafts gallery, Good Day Sunshine.

She said she started looking for a substitute for plastic packing when some customers mentioned that plastic is ecologically unsound and reflected badly on her business.

Buyer John Clark, whose company distributes plastic foam packing, said his company, Santa Rosa Paper, is interested in popcorn but is awaiting a general ruling from United Parcel Service on whether it can be used in any shipping.

Unlike the butter-flavored, $2.50-a-pint stuff served in movie houses, Sommer charges about $15 for a 14-cubic-foot bag of oil-free popped corn. That’s $4 less than the cost of the same volume of plastic foam kernels. Sommer estimated a 30% profit.

Sommer said he is working with a chemist to discover a way to hold popcorn together in large shapes such as those used to pack stereo components and other fragile devices.