Sustainable Packaging To Grab 32% Of Market By 2014

May 19, 2009

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Sustainable packaging will grow to 32% of the total global packaging market by 2014, up from just 21% in 2009, according to Sustainable Packaging, new study from Pike Research.

Plastic?based packaging, which represents 35% of all materials used, will be the fastest?growing sector of the sustainable packaging market over the next five years. Metal?based packaging, one of the easiest materials to recycle, will continue to be the sector with the highest percentage of sustainability – by 2014, more than 63% of metal?based packaging will be environmentally friendly.

“The $429 billion global packaging industry is huge but extremely fragmented, with no clear market leaders,” says managing director Clint Wheelock. “As such, the move toward sustainable packaging represents a broad?based effort by manufacturers, retailers, industry groups, and governments to promote the design of minimal packaging that can be easily reclaimed. A tremendous amount of innovation is going into reducing energy requirements to manufacture packaging and using more recyclable and compostable materials, but there is still a long way to go.”

Pike Research estimates that the worldwide market for packaging is currently valued at $429 billion. We forecast the market to surpass $500 billion in sales within five years, an annual growth rate exceeding the total global increase in GDP. Paper and paper-based packaging are the largest sectors with more than 40% of the global packaging market.

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Reader Comments

This is good news to hear that the sustainable packaging market is spreading and growing. How many Styrofoam cups and other non biodegradable items are filling up our landfills and polluting our air as we speak? While this is a step in a great direction, we must also remember that we need to balance our own consumption in order to be truly sustainable. The packaging industry is a big buisiness, and even small steps towards becoming more green will have a big impact on all of us. I hope that the number will indeed grow in the future. Here are the University of Vermont Global Sustainability Institute (http://learn.uvm.edu/igs) we feel that we each have a part to create a better vision of the future, through our classes and resources.

Shirah | May 20th, 2009

I think the problem that has kept plastic packaging recycling back was the different types of plastic. As facilities for sorting these different types of plastic improve I think this will also positively influence recycling rates as more collection points will be setup do to becoming more profitable.

Packaging | May 27th, 2009

I agree more collection points need to be provided in a sensible manner by local government to increase recycling rates. Also the public needs to be educated in what is recyclable and what isn’t.

Education, education, education!

Packaging Supplies | October 21st, 2009