Gone are the days of big, bulky containers or packages. Nowadays, consumers prefer their products in neat, compact, flexible, lightweight and of course, sustainable packaging.
Enter: stand-up pouches.
A stand-up pouch, also known as Doypack, is a unique type of flexible packaging that is able to stand on its bottom. It’s commonly filled with products like powders or ready-to-drink beverages. Think of a Capri Sun without the straw or the kind of pouches Delhi-based coffee chain Blue Tokai uses to package its aromatic coffee beans. Even restaurant chains like Socials now offer to doggy-bag your drink in a brown-papered stand-up pouch.
These nifty pouches are air-tight either through a press-to-close, zip lock or hook-to-hook closure, which means even if you’ve emptied all the contents, the pouch is perfectly reusable.
Reusability is what makes stand-up pouches one of the most versatile types of packaging out there. There are numerous uses of stand-up pouches, even at home. What’s to stop you from refilling them with non-food items like medicines or cosmetics? The uses of stand-up pouches are endless and packaging companies like DCGpac have recognised this rising popularity.
Here are a few ways to use Doypacks or stand-up pouches:
1. Handy picnic container
Picnics are fun but one thing that’s hard to avoid is spillage. Whether it’s chips, juices or namkeen, chances are the wind is going to end up making your picnic blanket a mess. Curb this by rolling down the mouth of an empty stand-up pouch to make a make-shift bowl or cup. Pour in your snacks or juice and say no to littering.
2. Home-made flower pot
Don’t have a flower pot? Fill an empty stand-up pouch with some manure or mud, make a little divit for your plant, pat down on the top of your pouch and voila! Be sure to do this only with plastic stand-up pouches or those that are lined with plastic on the inside so that you can water your plant without creating a mess.
3. Make your own trail mix
Constantly reaching for junk food and sugary snacks? Satiate your cravings by using a stand-up pouch to create your own trail mix. Open an empty stand-up pouch, throw in some nuts, dry fruit, granola and edible seeds. Sprinkle some salt and sugar, seal up the top of the pouch and shake thoroughly. Open and enjoy a home-made bag of trail mix that’s easy to store too.
4. Storing candy & hiding it from your kids
Most containers and packaging for candy are transparent, which makes it easy for your kids to – mind the cliche – get caught with their hands in the cookie jar! To successfully hide sugary goodies from your little ones and ration them out sensibly over time, transfer the candy into a foil stand-up pouch which successfully conceals its contents. You can be sure that if any young toddler opens that pantry door and sees a basic brown stand-up pouch, the last thing they’re going to assume is that it’s full of candy.
5. Temporary trash pouch for your car
We all know how quickly a car can be littered with wrappers, bills and other miscellaneous papers and packaging. But if you had a go-to trash pouch, chances are your car seats, dashboard and foot mats are going to be a lot less cluttered. All you have to do is store an empty stand-up pouch in the small compartment on the inside of a car door or in the cup holder near the handbrake, and label it “DESIGNATED TRASH POUCH”. Toss it out when it gets full and replace it with a new pouch. It’s that simple!
6. Store rubber bands and bobby pins
We all know how socks often disappear around our houses. It’s the same for rubber bands and bobby pins. No matter how many we buy, they always get lost somewhere, somehow. But storing these ahir accessories in a stand-up pouch and placing it near your bathroom sink or dressing table is guaranteed to keep them all in one place.
7. Organise your pantry
In every Indian kitchen is a designated pantry cabinet, storing everything from rice to sugar to dal but all in different sized containers. Having different sized containers can often be a pain. Why not use a bunch of stand-up pouches — specifically the ones with a transparent square on the front —to make the most of the space in your pantry? Just segment all of them into the standard-sized stand-up pouches and label them. It’ll save you a ton of time the next time you go rummaging through the cabinet.
These are just a few of a basket full of ways to use a stand-up pouch at home, in your car or outdoors. While some may argue that some stand-up pouches aren’t made with biodegradable materials such as foil stand up pouches or plastic ones, the beauty of this light, compact form of packaging is that it’s built to be reused and repurposed. That’s what makes them sustainable, easy to use and all in all, handy.
