Minigrip bags
What are minigrip bags?
Minigrip bags are also known as mini grip bags, self-seal bags, grip seal bags or grippa bags. They are polythene bags that ranging in size from 1.5" x 2.5" up to 15" x 20", which means they are perfect for storing a variety of products of all shapes and sizes. Whatever they are used for, minigrip bags keep their contents dry and free from dust and dirt, courtesy of a simple grip seal running along the top of the bag. Minigrip bags can be plain or labelled, with heavy duty, coloured or black minigrip bags, specimen bags, antistatic bags and many other types available.
Sealing & re-sealing bags
Resealable polythene bags open and close with a plastic seal that can be repeatedly sealed and opened, allowing the bag to be used more than once.
Self-seal bags are polythene bags featuring an integral seal that allows the bag to be closed without the use of any external object, such as an adhesive, tape or a bag tie, and without the plastic having to be sealed on bonded together using a heat sealer.
All resealable bags, such as minigrip bags, can be described as self-seal bags, as they do not require anything else to close them. However, not all self-seal bags can be described as resealable bags as some of them, such as the popular mailing bags, feature a seal that can only be used once. Once a mailing bag’s seal is opened, the bag cannot be used again.
Ways to seal a polythene bag
There are four main ways to seal a polythene bag. These are presented below, with examples to illustrate the sealing method:
1. Seal with bag clips or ties
You can seal a polythene bag by pulling together the two sides of the bag’s open end and then fastening with a plastic bag clip or tie. This is a particularly popular method for sealing food bags, either to store food in the fridge or freezer, or to tie up sandwiches etc. for packed lunches.
To seal bags with a plastic clip, place the two sides of the bag flat together, place them in the jaws of the clip and close it around them. To seal with a bag tie, scrunch the open end of the bag into a tight bunch, wrap the bag tie around it and tie up tight.
2. Seal with an adhesive strip
Another method for sealing plastic bags is with an adhesive strip. This method of sealing is used most widely in the manufacturing of mailing bags, as the bag can only be sealed once using this method, in the same way as standard paper envelopes, which means that any tampering with the bag’s seal would be obvious to the recipient of the mail.
To seal a mailing bag, place your items inside the bag, peel off the thin cover from the integral adhesive strip located on the mailing bag’s ‘tongue’, fold this flap over and press down to seal.
3. Seal with an integral reusable seal
Probably the easiest method of sealing a polythene bag is via an integral sealing device, such as a grip seal or a ziplock. Designed for ease of use, these sorts of bags - including grip seal, minigrip, slidergrip ziplock, ziplite and zipper bags - provide a simple method of opening and closing and can be used time and time again.
To close a grip seal bag, place one end of the seal between your forefinger and thumb and gently squeeze the bag from one end of the seal to the other. To open, simply give the two sides of the bag a gentle tug. To open or close a ziplock bag, just slide the zip all the way across to the correct end of the bag.
4. Bond/fuse polythene together with a heat sealer
The final and arguably the most professional way of sealing a plastic bag is to bond the polythene together by melting it. The best way to carry out this method of sealing is through a professional heat sealer. Just take the open sides of the bag, lay them together flat in the jaws of the heat sealer and press it down for a few seconds. Open the sealer and the bag will be sealed shut.
When used with layflat tubing - a long thin roll of polythene tubing - heat sealing is great for creating your own bespoke bags. Just place the item inside the layflat tubing and then seal one or both ends of the bag for your own made-to-measure polythene bag.
Antistatic self-seal bags
Antistatic self-seal bags are a specialist bag designed to store electrical components that require protection from the potential damage caused by static electricity.
They are also known as conductive bags, as the bag itself is a conductor. This does not mean that it collects tickets on buses or leads a miniature plastic bag orchestra, but that it conducts electricity, thus keeping it away from the contents of the bag.
Where can I buy sealing and re-sealing bags?
Manufacturers and suppliers of sealing and re-sealing bags include:
Self-Seal-Bags
Self-seal-bags.co.uk is a division of Polybags specialising in self-seal bags.Polybags Ltd has been providing customers with quality self-sealing packaging at competitive prices for over half a century.
www.self-seal-bags.co.uk
Discount Self Seal Bags
Free website helping you find everything you need from self sealing bags. Information, compare products, prices and online-stores stocking self-seal bags, clip-close bags, MiniGrip bags (aka Grippa bags) and all other types of resealable bags.
www.discountselfsealbags.co.uk
Heat Sealers Direct
Website providing you with the best suppliers of discount manual, impulse and foot operated heat sealers.
www.heatsealersdirect.co.uk
Resealable-Bags
Resealable-bags.co.uk markets a full line of reclosable packaging solutions preferred and used by many retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers alike due to their high quality and reliability. Our innovative products offer great solutions for storage, protection and advertising.
www.resealable-bags.co.uk
Antistatic-Bags
Ever wondered what antistatic bags are, how it is made, what it is used used for and where to buy antistatic bags at low prices? Find answers to all these questions about antistatic bags and static shielding bags at Antistatic-Bags.co.uk
www.antistatic-bags.co.uk
Self Seal Bags
SelfSealBags.org.uk offers custom self-sealing bags manufactured from high quality polythene film to accommodate your specific sizes or even anti-static needs. You may also or printed self-seal bags.
www.selfsealbags.org.uk
Zip Lock Bags
Great prices and discounts on mini-grip bags, self-seal bags and ziplock bags. Everything you need to know to help you choose the best type of polythene self-sealing bags to suit your packaging needs.
www.ziplockbags.co.uk
Things you may not know about Minigrip bags
Write-on Minigrip Bag 150 Pack of 1000 GA-130
At 125 x 190mm, the minigrip bag sits in that useful middle ground on the select-face: big enough to segregate fasteners, dry ingredients, cables or sample parts, yet not so oversised that null space starts to compromise pallet density or secondary bagging efficiency. The proper value is less to do with mere convenience than with control. A well-formed interlocking seal, manufactured with tight micron-specific gauging across the lip, reduces spill risk amid repeated handling and mitigates stock pollution in mixed consignments; that matters whether the content is food-neighboring, workshop-based or bound for kitting benches. Clarity, meanwhile, is not a cosmetic flourish nevertheless an operational advantagefully transparent polythene suppliers shortens visual checks, assists faster count verification and limits unnecessary reopening, which in turn maintains seal integrity. In material terms, a mono-material polythene suppliers building with consistent melt-flow behaviour gives a predictable closure response and a sensible tare weight profile, so the bag protects small contents without imposing much volumetric penalty. Where the grade is specified properly, surface stop and film memory also play their part, allowing the pouch to open cleanly, occupy fast and stack with efficient stability in outer cartons; from a circular-economy standpoint, that simplicity of material selection facilitates recyclability far more readily than mixed-format packs with paper labels, rigid inserts or laminated barriers.
On a production floor, the humble mini grip bag tends to be treated as a convenience item, yet its value lies in rather specific material behaviour: a low-gauge polythene suppliers film with stable seal-track geometry will tolerate blunt impact from a rolling pin without splitting at the side welds, while still retaining enough flexibility to retain biscuit crumbs contained rather than dusting the bench and contaminating neighboring ingredients. That matters in practice, because once dry solids are being reduced to a consistent crumb, particle escape becomes both a hygiene nuisance and a yield issue; secondary bagging and wipe-down time erode line efficiency far more fast than most recipe notes admit. The better formats rely on melt-flow consistency through conversion, giving uniform film thickness and predictable closure engagement across repeated opening cycles, which in turn facilitates portioning and small-batch prep without disproportionate tare weight or wasted stock. There is also a less glamorous logistics angle: flat-packed bags occupy very small cube, maintain select-face efficiency in stores, and avoid the pallet instability associated with rigid tubs in mixed consignments. Where the specification is mono-material polythene suppliers, the pack also sits more adequately within circular handling streams than laminated alternatives; not a big environmental gesture, perhaps, nevertheless a sensible reduction in material complexity for a task that is, at heart, simple containment below light mechanical abuse.
In daily packing operations, the grippa bag sits in an unglamorous nevertheless technically useful corner of the consumables stock: a lightweight polythene suppliers format with an integral press-seal profile that gives repeatable closure without introducing the tare weight, assembly time or pollution risk associated with secondary bagging. The proper value is not the apparant open-and-close convenience, nevertheless the method the closure geometry interacts with film specification gauge, seal integrity and melt-flow consistency all determine whether the ridge engages cleanly after repeated cycles or beginnings to fret at the mouth, shedding confidence on the select face. In warehouse practice, that matters; small parts, fasteners, samples and kitted components need to remain visible, segregated and dry while still being accessible at speed, and a transparent mono-material sleeve with a proper zip line facilitates stock control far better than ad hoc folding or taping ever does. There is also a quieter circular-economy argument in its favour: because the format is typically low-mass and often mono-polymer, the amortised energy per use can compare favourably with single-close alternatives, provided the bag is reused enough times and the film has sufficient puncture resistance to survive handling, pallet vibration and the normal abrasion that comes with consignments moving through tote, carton and bench.
Write-on Minigrip Bag 205 GA-131
At 205 x 280mm, the minigrip bag sits in an oddly useful middle ground on the packing bench: big enough to take loose components, dry ingredients or issue stock without collapsing into secondary bagging, yet still compact enough to maintain select-face efficiency and avoid wasting cube in tote-based handling. The versatile value lies less in the closure alone than in the method the gauge, seal profile and film clarity work together; a well-extruded polythene suppliers with consistent melt-flow and decent puncture resistance will tolerate repeated opening cycles without the interlocking rib whitening or drifting out of alignment, while the write-on panel turns what might otherwise be anonymous loose stock into a legible, auditable unit. That matters in practiceparticularly where line-side replenishment, sample retention or short-dash kitting relies on fast visual verification rather than opening all pouch. Clear mono-material building also carries a quieter operational advantage: it retains tare weight modest, assists pallet stability when packed in outer cartons, and, where waste streams are properly segregated, facilitates relatively straightforward recyclability compared with mixed-material formats that complicate reprocessing.
PUMA CORE UP MINI GRIP BAG
The term mini grip bag may read like list of products shorthand, yet on the warehouse floor it denotes a very specific format: a small-gauge polythene suppliers pouch with an integral press-seal that facilitates repeated opening without compromising select-face efficiency. In practice, its value sits in the interplay between film chemistry and handling discipline high-density polymer chains lend stiffness and clean edge definition, while tighter micron-specific gauging retains tare weight down and improves volumetric efficiency across a mixed consignment. That matters once secondary bagging, carton occupy ratios and pallet stability enter the frame; minour reductions in film mass scale fast when thousands of units are moving through stock. Equally, the closure profile is doing more work than casual buyers tend to realise, because seal memory, surface resistivity and particulate ingress all affect whether the bag remains serviceable after multiple touches in a fast fulfilment environment. The better examples avoid laminated complexity, which maintains mono-material recyclability and simplifies reprocessing into lower-grade feedstock, even if melt-flow consistency still dictates how much recovered content can be tolerated without causing seal tolerance. What appears, then, to be a simple accessory is certainly a compact exercise in balancing machinability, storage density and circular-economy pragmatism.
In trade terms, the grippa bag sits in a rather more exacting type than the generic poly bag; what appears to be a simple packaging supplierble sleeve is, on the line, a calibrated LDPE or PE format whose utility relies on film memory, seal integrity and controlled melt-flow consistency amid conversion. The better examples are specified with tight micron gauging so the bag will open cleanly at the select-face yet resist split initiation below secondary bagging, kitting, or specimen handlingan awkward balance, because heavier gauge improves puncture resistance while quietly eroding volumetric efficiency and adding tare weight across a palletised consignment. In medical and laboratory use, that same closure profile has to mitigate incidental pollution and enable repeat access without whitening or track failure; in manufacture applications, the equation shifts towards condensation behaviour, short-cycle handling and stock rotation, where surface slip and closure engagement affect throughput above headline tensile figures. There is also a circular-economy complication that converters tend to discuss sotto voce: a mono-material polythene suppliers building remains the cleanest route for recyclability, nevertheless only if the zipper, body film and any write-on panels are engineered to avoid contaminating the recovery stream, which in turn places a superior on disciplined resin selection rather than fashionable claims about biodegradability. In other words, the grippa bag earns its retain not through novelty, nevertheless through a series of small, physical decisions that reduce handling friction on the warehouse floor while preserving pack presentation and minimising material penalty.
Research & Resources
For further detailed information about sealing and re-sealing bags, right through their life-cycle from production to recycling, including details of the variety of re-sealable bags available, please visit:
Plastic Bags
Plastic packaging directory where businesses can add their own packaging product listings for free. Find a whole host of useful websites on sealing and re-sealing bags.
www.plasticbags.uk.com
Packaging Knowledge
This excellent online resource contains in-depth news and information on the plastic packaging industry. Read facts, stats and articles about packaging, including re-sealable bags.
www.packagingknowledge.com
Goldstork
Interesting online directory containing useful "best of the web" links to interesting and unusual websites, categorised to help your search. Goldstork also offers selected hand-picked websites specialising in sealing and re-sealing bags.
www.goldstork.com
What is static electricity?
Every object in the world - ourselves included - is made of atoms, which are in turn made of protons, neutrons and electrons. While neutrons have no charge, protons are positively charged and electrons are negatively charged.
In normal circumstances, the number of protons and electrons in an atom balance each other out, meaning that atoms have no charge. However, when two items rub together or separate, the electrons contained within these items can move from atom to atom or even from item to item, thus giving the atoms a positive or negative charge.
If the items involved in this situation are made from a material that does not conduct electricity - an insulator - then this charge can not move. The result is static electricity.
How do antistatic self-seal bags work?
If any static electricity comes into contact with an antistatic self-seal bag, rather than pass through the bag and risk damaging the electrical components inside the bag, the electricity passes around the bag and dissipates before it can make contact with the components, thus removing the possibility of damage.
