Millions upon millions of products are shipped directly to the doorsteps of American households every year, especially around the holidays.

While the items inside these packages are considered precious or valuable to the recipient, they are often surrounded by something considerably less sacred — packing peanuts or plastic air packs.

While these materials serve an invaluable role in securing products from damage during transit, Dowagiac’s Rich Daniels believes there has to be a better way to incorporate these materials into the overall presentation.

“There’s an emotional experience to unboxing a present,” Daniels said. “You get something from Amazon, spending $300 on whatever, and it’s just full of garbage. That’s the last touch a retailer or you as a gift giver have with that person, and they’re kind of disappointed because they got a box full of garbage.”

The local business owner is working to solve that issue with his company’s flagship product, FunPak, which offers environmentally friendly packing materials in a fun, dog bone shape. Once sold exclusively at whole sale, consumers themselves now have the chance to purchase their own packages of the material, available at in retail stores like Meijer’s and online at sites like Amazon.com.

Daniels spoke about the recent success of the product and his company, RNS Packaging, to the members of the Dowagiac Rotary Club Thursday afternoon during their luncheon meeting at the Elk’s Club. The Sister Lakes resident shared stories of his company’s growth over the last several months, and about their newest partnerships.

Daniels, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm, started his business in 2012, with the goal of creating an alternative to traditional packaging materials that would benefit, not harm, the environment. The business owner said that the typical Styrofoam peanuts take thousands of years to decompose, and rarely ever recycled.

“No matter what your politics are, it doesn’t make any sense to use that material to package your products,” he said.

His product, made from a corn-based material, is fully biodegradable, taking around a day to decompose once exposed to water. In addition, he chose to mold his product into a unique shape, which would add a bit of charm to the otherwise mundane material.

“This is just a neat way to get rid something that’s toxic, that there is no need for,” Daniels said.

At first, Daniels chose to sell his wares exclusively to major pet retailers. This July, though, he made a major push into the consumer market, showing off FunPak at the SuperZoo Pet Expo in Las Vegas. The product was an instant hit, winning best of show in its category, Daniels said.

The company also recently signed a deal with a division of Xerox, which will be using custom globe shaped peanuts for their product shipments, beginning in January. On the consumer end, Daniels said his company is looking to create several new FunPak shapes, including hearts in time for Valentine’s Day.

“Sales are growing exponentially,” he said. “It’s really exciting.”