The Role of Fiberglass in Reinforced Kraft Paper Strength
Most people never think about tape. Not until it breaks.
Packages open in transit more often than anyone wants to admit. Sometimes it’s a bad seal. Sometimes it’s too much weight. Either way, the box arrives damaged, and someone files a complaint. It adds up financially and operationally.
Kraft paper tape is a solid solution in many cases. It’s recyclable, reliable, and easy to apply. But like any material, it has limits. The paper fibers can tear. The tape can stretch under load. Once things start to shift in a truck, even strong tape can give way.
That’s where fiberglass comes in.
What Kraft Paper Can Do (And What It Can’t)
Kraft paper has a lot going for it. The fibers are long and intact thanks to the chemical pulping process, which strips out the weak stuff and leaves behind a dense, tough sheet. It holds up well under pressure and resists tearing better than standard papers.
That’s why it became the go-to base for water-activated tape.
But unreinforced Kraft paper tape can fail. One sharp corner or one drop from a belt can push it past its threshold. You might get away with it 95 percent of the time. That other five percent is where problems start. Especially in high-volume or high-risk environments.
The Job of Fiberglass
Fiberglass isn’t just mixed in. It’s built into the structure. It shows up as a scrim, a grid of thin glass fibers that gets sandwiched between layers of kraft paper. This scrim stops small tears from growing. It spreads stress across a wider area. It keeps the tape from deforming when a box twists or slams down on a pallet.
Some products use tri-directional scrims, which reinforce the tape across the length, width, and diagonal. That kind of structural support pays off when packages take unpredictable hits.
Think of it like rebar in concrete. Without it, things can crack under pressure. With it, they hold.
What It Means in Practice
With reinforced tape, fewer things go wrong. Boxes stay sealed longer. Tampering is harder. The tape forms a bond with the corrugated surface, and once it dries, it’s not coming off cleanly. If someone tries, they leave visible damage.
That kind of seal helps protect the product and the brand behind it.
The tape also performs better across a range of conditions. Cold warehouse? Humid dock? Long haul on rough roads? Reinforced Kraft tape holds together through it. It doesn’t curl, slip, or dry out the way some pressure-sensitive plastic tapes do.
Who’s Using It
It shows up in e-commerce fulfillment centers, especially for direct-to-consumer goods. Heavy-duty versions are common in manufacturing and industrial supply chains. Pharmaceutical companies use it for the added tamper evidence. Even food distributors rely on it when shipping high-value inventory.
In fact, the tamper-evident properties of reinforced tape are so effective that similar principles are outlined in FDA regulations regarding packaging security.
Grades vary. Holland Manufacturing, for example, offers options from light-duty to extra-heavy, depending on load requirements. All of them follow the same core principle: strengthen the paper, keep the tape intact, and make sure boxes stay closed.
Recyclability Still Matters
The Kraft paper portion is recyclable. During re-pulping, the fibers are separated, and the fiberglass is screened out. The glass mesh itself doesn’t stay in the cycle, but it doesn’t contaminate anything either.
This makes reinforced Kraft tape easier to recycle than most plastic-based options. That small advantage adds up across thousands of shipments.
For businesses tracking sustainability metrics, it’s a smart move.
A Small Change That Solves a Big Problem
It’s easy to overlook tape until something fails. But the seal matters when the product is heavy, expensive, or going a long distance, and fiberglass reinforcement gives the tape what it needs to finish the job.
It keeps boxes sealed, customers satisfied, and shipments intact.
And that’s more than enough reason to pay attention to the tape.
Order Reinforced Tape From Holland Manufacturing
If you would like to learn more about the benefits of fiberglass-reinforced kraft paper tape, contact Holland Manufacturing. You can reach us at 1-800-345-0492 or request a quote online.