Packaging

The Future Of Packaging – What To Expect

Packaging is something most of us use but few of us ever really think about. However, the reality is that everything requires packaging and this has had a significant environmental impact. It is for good reason, for instance, that many people and businesses now want to go 100% plastic free.

Packaging Trends to Be Aware Of

Packaging experts all agree that sustainability is a key area of concern nowadays. There is also some concern about the impact of the cost of packaging and how this is related to sustainability. While most people will readily agree that going green is the way forward, very few would agree to see their packaging costs being doubled. Additionally, some businesses do not expect to keep running for much longer, which means they don’t particularly care about their future impact.

However, the world only has finite resources. Hence, a new way of thinking is required. One of the main initiatives is that of recycling. If we can continue to use similar capping equipment, filling machines, and other packaging tools, but they are made from recycled materials and they use recycled materials in production, it seems that a solution could maybe be found.

What Packaging Professionals Are Doing

Those in the packaging industry agree that sustainability is vital. Hence, they have started to offer greener solutions. However, because these are somewhat more expensive, the take-up has been slow. The result is that professionals are also looking at other ways to make their industry more sustainable. They are consider things such as making package sizes more efficient, changing the shapes of certain products, and down gauging the materials they use.

At the same time, more work is being done to help make recyclable and renewable materials become just as affordable as the non-green packaging materials. One new strategy is that of “smart packaging”, which enables producers and consumers to share information in a more efficient way. However, this means that the machinery used to create packaging has to change, which has also met with a significant level of resistance.

Packaging professionals are also looking at the attributes of packaging that consumers seem to find important. Ease of use and convenience rank highly, but so does shelf appeal. Sustainability and the “greenness” of packaging is important, but it seems more has to be done to really raise awareness of just how much this matters. In fact, it is believed that this is one of the reasons why bamboo packaging is now so popular. Not only is it highly sustainable, it is also beautiful to look at. Unfortunately, no methods have been found to date to efficiently and affordably use bamboo across the whole of the packaging industry, although work is being done.