Plastics Today Reveals 2012 Packaging Predictions

by | Jan 3, 2012

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Consumers should expect higher quantities of recycled materials in packaging and less access to single-use plastic carrier bags and bottles in the coming year, according to Plastics Today.

Curbs on carrier bag use, such as taxes and outright bans, began to spring up in 2010 and continued through 2011. Likewise plastic bottles came under fire in places such as the Grand Canyon, which enacted an outright ban, and, writing for the web site’s blog, contributor Tony Deligio expects more bans and taxes on such single-use products in 2012.

We might find it harder to get access to single use plastic bottles in 2012, but when we do they are not going to be any lighter than they already are. The article argues that anyone who has picked up a single-use water bottle recently, can affirm that the product has had so much plastic taken out of it in the name of efficiency that there is no more room for lightweighting. Expect instead to see manufacturers targeting wasteful or unnecessary secondary packaging at the carton or pallet level, the article says.

The increase use of biobased PET in another way in which the humble bottle will be improved in 2012. Led by such products as Coca-Cola’s PlantBottle (pictured), Plastics Today says that biobased PET is now the most likely material to replace fossil fuel-based bottles.

Finally, packaging in general will see continued higher levels of recycled content in packaging, buoyed by improved methods of sorting and shredding, and consumer demand, the article says.

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