Before you think we’ve gone crazy showing you caulk, check this out. Momentive Performance Materials created a single-use package for our parent company GE's caulk that it says will “reinvent the caulking experience for the consumer.” Hidden underneath that graphical packaging is a geometric bellows and a couple of other proprietary mechanisms that make it easy to apply the goop with one hand and just throw it away when you’re done.
Applying a fresh bead of caulk can make a bathtub look like new, but who wants to deal with a messy caulking gun and a huge container of the slimy stuff? They should make Crazy Glue packages this way. In a world where some products are absurdly over-packaged (think individually-wrapped slices of American “cheese product”), here’s an area where more packaging is welcome. Get a free sample here.
Via TheDieline
editor@dvice.com
By pakodoom at 5:38 PM ON 06/23/08
yeah this is what we need.. more disposable packaging. and one time use products. i for one think we should go the opposite direction and start making refillable caulk tubes.. if you can't use a caulking gun without making a massive mess then you've got some terrible degenerative muscle disease. i've caulked more things than i'm proud to admit and i've never once had a problem in application. this is completely unnecessary, and BTW thanks for pointing out that it's from your parent company..y'know..so we know you were forced to compromise your integrity to write this.
By Charlie White at 6:19 PM ON 06/23/08
@Pakadoom: Gee, thanks for your vote of confidence. Let's get this straight: I was not forced to write this post at all, and I have never had any contact whatsoever with GE, directly or indirectly.
You've completely missed the point of the post. Many items are overpackaged, offering no convenience but more plastic, cardboard and paper. This packaging actually offers an advantage, lets someone who uses caulk once a year be done with it, and lets you apply caulk with one hand.
For full-time caulkers like you, maybe buying a caulk store would be best, and perhaps opening a school where you can spend your days teaching others about your wondrous caulking prowess. But for the rest of us, it's not easy using a caulking gun two years later when the stuff has hardened.
Thanks for reading and visiting DVICE.
By Delosworld at 6:27 PM ON 06/23/08
I seem to throw out about 4 to 8 tubes of half filled caulk every year or two. Some stuff keeps longer in the veggie crisper but after a year I figure I might as well buy a new tube anyway just to make sure the quality of the caulk is better. I wish houses could be designed to not ever require the use of caulk, or at least to only use it where it is sheltered from the elements and out of view. But hey, that's just me.
By pakodoom at 10:24 PM ON 06/23/08
i think Delos' solution is a pretty sound one.
By GEORGEH at 10:40 AM ON 06/24/08
The use of this thing is simple and easy, AND there is an environmental benefit too if you think through the full life cycle of the package. It eliminates the freight of an empty plastic (think oil and hydrocarbons) caulk tube to the manufacturer and then after its used, instead of having an empty or half used caulk tube in a landfill, you have a flat small package that will be completely empty due to its small size. This package will change expectations on caulk in my opinion.