Apple Stores to use paper bags made of recycled paper

Apple stores shifted to using paper shopping bags earlier this year.

Apple places huge focus on designing its products and accessories. The shopping bags are a part of the full Apple experience. No wonder Apple innovated while designing their shopping bags as well. A patent published this week discloses details of these innovations.

The paper bag includes a bag container formed of white paper with at least 60% post-consumer (recycled) content. The white paper is formed of solid bleached sulfate (SBS). To help compensate for reduced strength and increased susceptibility to tearing that is attendant to SBS paper having greater than 50% post-consumer content, the bag container includes a reinforcement insert adhered to its interior, which extends across a fold of the bag container.

Even the bag handle is formed of paper fibers.
Typical paper handles are stiff and inflexible; these qualities contribute to a rough, unfinished feel. Apple’s shopping bag has a handle that has a feel and flexibility similar to that of a hollow textile tube, like a shoelace. To effect this feel and flexibility, the handle is formed of knitted paper fibers in a tight-knit pattern with a large diameter.

This patent shows that Apple is environmentally sensitive organization, but they do not allow it to have a negative impact on customer experience.

us20160264304