The strip of tape across a carton is one of those everyday things with a longer story than you would expect. Over about 120 years, carton sealing has gone from hide glue and twine, to gummed paper tape, to clear plastic on a hand gun, and now partway back to paper. Each shift happened for a practical reason, and the current move back to water activated paper tape is the latest of them.
Key points
- Gummed paper tape, a kraft strip with a starch adhesive activated by water, was invented for sealing packages in the early 1900s and was the standard carton seal for half a century.
- Pressure-sensitive tape began with Richard Drew’s masking tape at 3M in the 1920s and cellophane “Scotch” tape in 1930.
- After the Second World War, cheap plastic tape on a hand gun, with no water and no dispenser, displaced gummed tape for most carton sealing.
- Since the 2010s, e-commerce and kerbside recycling have driven a revival of water activated paper tape.
- Each era solved the previous era’s main problem: speed, then cost, and now recyclability.
Before tape: glue, staples and string
Into the late nineteenth century, wooden crates and the first cardboard cartons were closed with what was on hand: animal hide glue, metal staples, and twine or cord tied around the box. Glue was slow to set and messy; staples rusted and tore the board; string could be cut and re-tied without a trace. None of it was fast, and none of it showed tampering. There was room for something better as mass-produced corrugated boxes arrived.
The gummed-paper-tape era (early 1900s to 1950s)
Gummed paper tape answered that. J. Donald M’Laurin is credited with inventing gummed paper tape for sealing packages after arriving in the United States in 1902, building on nineteenth-century gummed papers and the same water-activated gum idea used on postage stamps since around 1840.
The tape was simple and effective: a strip of kraft paper coated with a dry starch adhesive. Moisten it, press it onto a carton, and the starch bonds into the board fibres as it dries. It gave a strong, tamper-evident seal, and once a wetting dispenser was on the pack bench it was quick and consistent. For the first half of the twentieth century, gummed paper tape was simply how you sealed a carton.
The pressure-sensitive revolution (1925 to 1950s)
The change came from a different problem. In the early 1920s a 3M engineer, Richard Drew, watched car painters struggling to mask off panels for two-tone paint jobs. He developed an adhesive tape that held well but peeled off cleanly, and 3M brought masking tape to market in 1925. In 1930, using a cellophane film backing, the company introduced transparent “Scotch” tape, first aimed at sealing the new cellophane food packaging.
The key idea was pressure-sensitive adhesion: the tape is sticky as supplied and bonds under finger pressure alone. No water, no wetting brush, no dispenser to maintain. After the Second World War, with polypropylene film and simple hand-held dispensers, pressure-sensitive tape became cheap and fast, and it moved from stationery and specialty use into carton sealing.
The plastic decades (1960s to 2000s)
For roughly forty years, clear or tan plastic tape was the default. Hot-melt rubber and acrylic adhesives improved tack and shelf life; automatic case sealers applied plastic tape at speed on production lines; a hand gun and a roll of tape became standard kit in every storeroom. Gummed paper tape did not disappear, it held on in specific niches like heavy export cartons and high-security shipments, but it was the exception.
The trade-off went largely unremarked at the time: plastic tape sits on the surface rather than bonding in, so it is not tamper-evident, and it has to be pulled off a carton before the cardboard can be recycled.
The paper revival (2010s to now)
Two forces brought water activated paper tape back. First, e-commerce: when a customer opens the parcel themselves, carton security and the look of the seal matter, and a tamper-evident paper seal does both. Second, recycling and packaging policy: kerbside recycling and, in Australia, the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation and the national packaging targets pushed brands toward packaging that recycles whole, without the customer peeling plastic off first.
Modern water activated tape is not a museum piece. Reinforced grades with fibreglass carry heavy and export cartons; electric dispensers pre-measure, wet and cut a strip in a second; digital printing puts full-colour branding on the seal. The chemistry is the same starch bond from 1902, applied with better equipment for a different reason: recyclability rather than simply “a seal”.
What each era got right
Gummed paper tape solved security and strength. Pressure-sensitive plastic solved speed and cost, and removed the water and the dispenser. The current shift keeps the speed, with electric dispensers, and brings back the fibre bond because a paper seal on a paper box recycles as one thing. It is less a reversal than an accumulation: each era kept what worked and addressed what did not.
Where Carewell fits
Carewell Group is an Australian packaging supplier. We supply modern water activated tape, reinforced and non-reinforced, plain or printed, with dispensers to match. If you are weighing it against plastic tape, the 8 key insights guide compares them, and the water activated tape guide covers how it works today. Ask for samples or call +61 (02) 8760 1491.
Frequently asked questions
When was water activated tape invented?
Gummed paper tape for sealing packages dates to the early 1900s, credited to J. Donald M’Laurin after 1902, building on nineteenth-century gummed papers and the water-activated gum used on postage stamps from around 1840.
When was Scotch tape invented?
3M brought masking tape to market in 1925 and cellophane-backed transparent “Scotch” tape in 1930, both developed by engineer Richard Drew.
Why did plastic tape replace gummed paper tape?
After the Second World War, pressure-sensitive plastic tape on a simple hand gun needed no water and no dispenser, and it was cheap and fast, so it displaced gummed tape for general carton sealing.
Why is water activated paper tape making a comeback?
E-commerce made a tamper-evident, presentable seal valuable, and kerbside recycling and packaging policy favour a carton that recycles whole without removing the tape.
Is modern water activated tape the same as the old gummed tape?
The starch bond is the same idea. The tape now comes in reinforced grades and is applied with electric dispensers and digital printing, and it is chosen mainly for recyclability.
Sources
- Jota Machinery, when was water-activated tape invented, and the evolution of paper tape: jotamachinery.com
- Holland Manufacturing, the evolution of water-activated tape: hollandmfg.com
- Wikipedia and Scientific American, Scotch tape and Richard Drew (masking tape 1925, cellophane tape 1930): en.wikipedia.org
- Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), national packaging targets: apco.org.au
Written by Alif Vasaya, digital and content strategy, Carewell Group. Carewell Group is an Australian packaging, food packaging, tape, industrial safety and 3PL supplier. Last updated 10 September 2026.