This Video Explains the Reason Why Your Cling Wrap Is Less Sticky Than It Used to Be

There are many things that seem to have been better ‘back in the day’. Though it's hard to tell if that is just nostalgia talking. 

But if you swear that cling wrap, saran wrap or plastic wrap (depending on where you live) used to better, than you are actually right. Whatever you call it, for many of us plastic wrap is a kitchen staple, it’s a lifesaver when it comes to putting away leftovers. 

Michael Aranda from the SciShow explains the history of this ubiquitous kitchen item and then delves into all the reasons why it isn’t quite as sticky as you remember it. The standard US-produced cling wrap was Saran Wrap made by the company S.C. Johnson. 

But in the early 2000’s they changed their recipe for the wrap, that was less sticky but they actually had some good reasons for it. In 1998, the S.C. Johnson Company bought the patent for the product from its inventors Dow Chemical.

Around this time, some concerns surfaced about what happened when plastic wrap was burnt in municipal trash incinerators, the potential for toxic chemicals to be released was too high and S.C. Johnson promised to clean up the product. 

They managed to create a new type of saran wrap that doesn’t emit toxins but it is also less effective than its toxic original. But the choice seems pretty clear that a slightly less sticky plastic wrap is much better than releasing toxic pollutants into the environment.

Via: SciShow