Lightweighting
The food and packaging industries are, where possible, reducing the weight of packaging – to make cost savings from reductions in material requirements and lower transportation costs. All packaging materials are affected, particularly the inherently heavier glass and metal packaging formats. Continuing developments in the designs of flexible packaging pouches are extending their use for a wider range of foods and drinks to replace heavier glass, rigid plastic or metal packaging.
Sustainability
Most food packaging is single-use and enters the waste disposal process once the food or drink has been consumed. Packaging materials such as metal cans, glass bottles and paperboard cartons are relatively easy to collect and recycle; but there is a growing concern around the world about the level of plastic packaging that is going to landfill, for incineration or into the environment.
One factor in the sustainability of packaging relates to deinking. The quality of recovered material from recycling processes for plastic and board food packaging depends on whether inks and overprint varnishes used to decorate and label the packaging can be completely removed. The success in removing these inks varies significantly between paper and board waste and plastic waste.
Growth of water-based and UV/EB inks
Water-based and UV/EB inks have shown the highest growth rates in the printed food packaging market over the past five years, as printers in all geographic regions have been subjected to environmental regulations on VOC emissions and wastes from their production processes. These two ink types continue to exhibit the fastest growth rates up to 2023.
The growth in the use of UV inks may be further boosted over the next five years by greater adoption of UV-LED lamps on print lines. Although these lamps are more expensive than mercury arc types, they are easier and more economical to use and generate little or no heat during operation, opening up their use for thermally sensitive packaging materials. The cost of UV-LED inks is also higher than that of conventional UV inks, restricting their wider adoption until material costs can be reduced.
Fast growth in Asia markets
The Asia-Pacific region has exhibited one of the fastest regional growth rates over the past five years, increasing its share of global printed food packaging demand from 35% of the value in 2013 to 37% by 2018. The growth in value of printed food packaging in North America was slightly lower than that for the global market from 2013 to 2018; while sales value in Western Europe, grew at a slower rate over this period, with the result that the region’s share declined.