We cite the story of the bread clip whenever a buddy comes up with a business idea that is not sexy but could become ubiquitous. I bet it was only yesterday that you heard yourself saying "You are a regular Folyd B Paxton" in response to a proposal for a handy belt holster for tooth picks. After all, a person can get rich one one hundredth of a cent at a time -- as long as there are billions of times.
Floyd B Paxton, of Yakima, Washington is credited as the inventor of the bread clip. I doubt anyone knows how many billions of bread clips have been made since that fateful day in the early 1950s, or if Floyd's Kwik Lok corporation made much money, but we can be quite sure that most of those bread clips are still in existence.
If your sense of humor about this kind of thing is as warped as mine, you should check out this website that considers the bread clip a living organism that feeds off of the plastic bag. They call them "occlupanids":
Since very little of occlupanid’s behavior has been recorded, its life cycle remains a mystery. Most scholars agree that occulpanids attach themselves to the plastic bags to gain nourishment. Plastic bags, when distended with matter, twist their anterior aperature (usually clockwise, but research is inconclusive), forming a tight stricture that ends in a halo formed by the fringe of the bag.
Actually, it would be much better if the bread clip was a living organism that ate plastic. That is exactly what we need on this earth. Unfortunately the bread clip is not biodegradable. It takes thousands of years for them to decay. That means that a single bread clip in the environment could be injested by and destroy dozens of animals as it and its sharp corners passes through one after another.
If you want to think more about this kind of thing, join us at the Midway Film project on Kickstarter: 6 days and $25,000 to go to make the goal so Chris Jordan can produce this incredible film.
If you are wondering how my no plastic July is going, the answer simply is not good. This week I had to break down and get toothpaste, and the other day I was at the movies and ordered a water -- before I thought about that blasted plastic bottle. Good thing I don't have much hair left to pull out.