The Clear Choice with Alpha Rho
Your life, in many ways, actually may depend on it. At the very least, it is a material you’ve come to count on in vast and varied ways. Food storage (think quick take-out during a hectic day), organizing supplies (what a mess without ‘em!), candy boxes (a sweet gift for your sweetie?), or a lightweight enclosure to drop in your backpack (with first-aid supplies as you hike the Appalachian Trail). Polystyrene is also used in everyday items like blow dryers, children’s toys, office supplies … the list goes on. Convenient, lightweight, inexpensive, versatile—there are virtually no areas of our lives that polystyrene plastic has not touched.
There are different types of polystyrene—mainly two that are used for home and commercial applications. The two most commonly used forms of polystyrene are:
- Expanded polystyrene (EPS)—this forms a rigid cellular plastic, containing an expansion agent; this has a “bubbly” hard foam feel and is commonly used as a packaging material for electronics and furniture (it is not Styrofoam)
- High-impact polystyrene (HIPS)—there are different grade for specific uses—but generally all HIPS have dimensional stability with excellent impact resistance (but are not clear); can be easily painted and glued and have economical and easy manufacturability
At Alpha Rho, we work with general-purpose polystyrene to manufacture our large assortment of rigid plastic boxes—some are standard and in stock, others can be custom-made to specification, providing the volume is large enough (100,000s of thousands of parts). Polystyrene is naturally clear, making a perfect surface for custom printing. It can withstand variations in temperature—remaining uncompromised in extreme high or low temperatures.
Advantages of General-Purpose Polystyrene Rigid Plastic Boxes
The properties of general-purpose polystyrene rigid plastic boxes provide many advantages:
- FDA compliant—non-toxic
- Good dimensional stability
- Low cost compared to other materials
- Easy to paint, glue, and print on
- Excellent aesthetic qualities
We are a hands-on company known for our agile response times and approachable customer service. Alpha Rho is the largest manufacturer of a wide assortment of stock and custom clear polystyrene lid and hinged plastic boxes for handling, packaging, and storage applications in New England. Click here to request free samples of our clear polystyrene plastic boxes.
