Hefty

Last updated
Hefty
Hefty logo.png
Owner Reynolds Consumer Products, Inc
Country United States
Introduced1965
Previous owners Mobil, Tenneco Packaging, Pactiv Corporation
Website hefty.com

Hefty is an American brand of household products such as trash bags and trash cans, disposable tableware, children's disposable tableware (including their reintroduced Zoo Pals product line), slider closure food storage and freezer bags, plastic storage bins, and disposable cookware. [1] Originally a Mobil product, the brand has been owned by Reynolds Consumer Products since 2010.

Contents

Retailers

Hefty products are sold nationwide (in stores and online) at grocery stores, drugstores, and other mass merchandisers in the United States.

A Hefty brand food container. Hefty square styrofoam food container closed.JPG
A Hefty brand food container.

History

Hefty was founded by Mobil Chemical Co in 1965. Plastics Division headquartered in Macedon, New York, was acquired by Tenneco Packaging in 1995 with a $1.27 billion purchase of Mobil's 4,100-employee plastics division, [2] then Pactiv Corporation (1999–2010). Hefty products have been owned or licensed by Reynolds Consumer Products, Inc, headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois since Pactiv was acquired by Reynolds' parent company, Reynolds Group Holdings, on November 16, 2010. [3] [4]

OneZip

The Hefty OneZip sliding tab sealable bag, formerly known as the "rolling-action zipper profile and slipper", was created by Eric A. St. Phillips and F. John Harrington Jr. at Mobil in the early 1990s at a cost of $25 to $50 million, after having developed and evaluated various different zipper designs, and finally deciding to roll out the "boxcar-shaped version", which slides over dual plastic tracks. [5]

Environmental concerns

Hefty was one of the brands (along with Kordite and Baggies (another Pactiv brand)) named in a complaint brought against Mobil by the United States Federal Trade Commission in 1992, regarding claims made by the company in advertisements and packaging, which allegedly led consumers to believe that the bags were more biodegradable than other brands of bag, despite a lack of evidence to support this claim nor presentation of a specific definition for the term. The FTC dropped their complaint after Mobil agreed to cease making such claims. [6] [7]

See also

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References

  1. Hefty. "Hefty Products". Hefty. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  2. Bukro, Casey (October 3, 1995). "Plastics Purchase Wraps Up: Packaging Corp. Buys Mobil Unit". Chicago Tribune . Business. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  3. Reynolds Group Holdings Limited (9 February 2012). "Reynolds Group Holdings Limited Releases Preliminary 2011 Base Earnings Results". Business Wire. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  4. "Reynolds Consumer Products Inc. – About". Reynolds Consumer Products Inc. Archived from the original on 9 January 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  5. Starkman, Dean (25 April 1999). "Hefty's zipper bag is giving rivals an uncomfortable zap Reason it's a hit? Americans pay for convenience". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  6. Pham, Alex (28 July 1992). "Mobil in FTC Pact to Drop Claims of Plastic Degradability". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  7. Federal Trade Commission (1 February 1993). "Complaint: In the Matter of Mobil Oil Corporation" (PDF). Docket C-3415. Complaint, Feb. 1, 1993 – Decision. pp. 113–125. Retrieved 22 July 2013.