Terry Knowles, European Editor07.19.21
Recently, the European Printing Ink Association (EuPIA) published as its annual report the latest statistics on the European market for inks. Unsurprisingly, for 2020, the figures it reported were generally a setback for the industry, as demand was seen to shrink in most economies. Turkey proved to be among the few gainers in terms of annual ink demand during the pandemic year, while all of the major economies saw ink demand fall, as seen below.
Here are some of the highlights:
• The European market for packaging inks fell by 1% in 2020 to 530,000 tons, while the market for publication inks fell by nearly 20% to 290,000 tons. This gives packaging inks a total of 64% of the market, and publication inks 36% in volume terms.
• By value, the European market for packaging inks in 2020 was valued at €2 billion, which represented a 1.7% fall in value. The cumulative value of all publication inks sold in 2020 reached €800 million, which was an 18.4% decrease. These figures give packaging inks 71% of the market by value and publication inks 29%.
The figures are based on the association’s 27 member companies and reflect ca. 90% of the demand.
The detailed statistics reported offer the total ink sales in every country but there are too many to enumerate here, so by way of summary:
• Very few economies actually reported any growth in ink sales in 2020. The four named ones that recorded greater ink sales relative to 2019 were Turkey (up by 7.1%), Greece (up by 4%), Croatia (3%) and the Czech Republic (1.6%).
• All of the big five economies showed a downturn in annual ink sales: Germany (-8.3%), Italy (-5.8%), UK (-15.1%), France (-10.4%) and Spain (-8.3%).
• Switzerland and Norway, both with a 19% decrease, and the Belgium/Luxembourg region with a 17% decrease ,were the countries that were the hardest hit. However, these markets lie outside the top ten in value terms.
Trends in the European Packaging Sector
A recent market study from Mordor Intelligence draws out a variety of trends that are currently shaping the packaging market in Europe. Cartons and glass hold two of the important end-use keys in highlighting where packaging inks might go, particularly when it comes to areas such as recycling, re-use and sustainability.
Cartons have a major role to play and European customers are apt to choose products sold in cartons rather than plastic and tin packaging, because the use of cartons allows for easier recycling.
Greater product protection is also a growing trend. Hygienic packaging in the post-COVID era is likely to become a growing trend; the key aspect of this is that the virus has poor longevity on porous surfaces.
Food and cosmetic companies are also working hard on producing sustainable packaging. L’Oreal and Albea have been working on a paper-based tube that could be used for packaging cosmetics. Potentially this could pave the way for other paper-based, sustainable packaging options across a fairly wide part of L’Oreal’s beauty product portfolio.
Glass recycling in the EU is fairly high and benefits from the perception that glass is seen as an eco-friendly packaging material. Glass collection rates in Europe are as high as 76% but there are moves afoot to target a rate of 90%. A survey conducted last year by the European Container Glass Federation showed that increasing numbers of consumers are buying products packaged in glass bottles rather than plastic (relative to the base year of 2016), with purchasing decisions being driven by environmental considerations and their easy recyclability.
The European food industry is one of the most significant users of plastics and demand for plastic for the packaging of food continues to grow, irrespective of the popularity of competing materials. There remains a long way to go in altering the long-term relationship between the food industry and the plastics sector.
Last year, a new initiative called the European Plastics Pact was set up to implement various targets by 2025. This includes reducing the use of virgin plastic by at least 20% and increasing collection, sorting and recycling capacity by 25%. On the recycling side, the pact aims to increase the use of recycled plastics in packaging to at least 30%. Key companies in the food manufacturing industry, such as Unilever, Nestlé and Suez, are already signatories to the pact.
One interesting find reported is that it is believed there will be a downturn in the popularity of refill, re-use packaging systems by consumers.
Changing Packaging Behavior
The latter point may actually fly in the face of something that has been experienced in the UK as far as packaging and refilling is concerned. In the UK, Unilever has announced that it is expanded its trial for refill and re-use packaging. Originally piloted in a single supermarket store, Unilever announced in June that it is now trialing its refill and re-use experiment in seven different supermarket locations across the UK. The ambition is to change how consumers use packaging by shifting their experience away from single use to re-use.
The company will offer two options for consumers. Stainless steel is the material of choice in this experiment, and will be offered for traditional grab-and-go purchases as well as for the refillable option, which will be fulfilled at a refill zone in the supermarket. According to Unilever, the original trial “exceeded expectations” with weekly purchases of Persil from the refill zone reaching a third higher than the equivalent single use pack.
Driving Sustainable Carton Use in Europe
Recently in Europe, The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE), and its members SIG Combibloc, BillerudKorsnäs, Elopak, Stora Enso and Tetra Pak, set out a ten-point roadmap that captures the industry’s vision for the future: to deliver the most sustainable packaging for resilient food supply systems which is renewable, climate positive and circular.
Through its ambitious roadmap, the industry commits to take action on all parts of the industry value chain, from sustainable sourcing to climate impact and recycling. Increasing the collection and recycling of beverage cartons, to reach a 90% collection rate and at least a 70% recycling rate by 2030, and the decarbonization of the industry’s value chain in line with the 1.5°C aligned science-based targets are included in the ten commitments.
In line with the vision of ACE members, beverage cartons will be:
• Made only from renewable and/or recycled material.
• Fully recyclable and recycled.
• Made entirely from sustainably sourced raw materials.
• The packaging solution with the lowest carbon footprint.
“The industry has set high and ambitious standards for the next ten years,” said Annick Carpentier, director general of ACE. “We look forward to fostering a dialogue with EU decision-makers to ensure that the necessary regulatory conditions are in place to support the industry’s journey towards beverage cartons as the sustainable packaging choice for today and tomorrow.”
Beverage cartons are a recyclable low carbon packaging solution that protects food and beverages, allowing their safe use and transport while also preventing food waste. With the commitments and targets set in the 2030 Roadmap, the industry will strive for its packaging to continue to actively contribute towards the ambitions of the EU Green Deal, specifically climate neutrality, circularity, biodiversity and resilient food systems, while never compromising the health and safety of consumers.
“The industry continues to invest in innovation and technology to increase beverage carton recycling,” said Marcelle Peuckert, president of ACE. “The industry needs an enabling policy framework that will continue to support our investments and innovation over the next decade.”
ACE members have outlined clear deliverables, will report on the Roadmap’s overall progress on a regular basis, and will develop, add and adapt metrics should they not currently exist, also in partnership with others.
Here are some of the highlights:
• The European market for packaging inks fell by 1% in 2020 to 530,000 tons, while the market for publication inks fell by nearly 20% to 290,000 tons. This gives packaging inks a total of 64% of the market, and publication inks 36% in volume terms.
• By value, the European market for packaging inks in 2020 was valued at €2 billion, which represented a 1.7% fall in value. The cumulative value of all publication inks sold in 2020 reached €800 million, which was an 18.4% decrease. These figures give packaging inks 71% of the market by value and publication inks 29%.
The figures are based on the association’s 27 member companies and reflect ca. 90% of the demand.
The detailed statistics reported offer the total ink sales in every country but there are too many to enumerate here, so by way of summary:
• Very few economies actually reported any growth in ink sales in 2020. The four named ones that recorded greater ink sales relative to 2019 were Turkey (up by 7.1%), Greece (up by 4%), Croatia (3%) and the Czech Republic (1.6%).
• All of the big five economies showed a downturn in annual ink sales: Germany (-8.3%), Italy (-5.8%), UK (-15.1%), France (-10.4%) and Spain (-8.3%).
• Switzerland and Norway, both with a 19% decrease, and the Belgium/Luxembourg region with a 17% decrease ,were the countries that were the hardest hit. However, these markets lie outside the top ten in value terms.
Trends in the European Packaging Sector
A recent market study from Mordor Intelligence draws out a variety of trends that are currently shaping the packaging market in Europe. Cartons and glass hold two of the important end-use keys in highlighting where packaging inks might go, particularly when it comes to areas such as recycling, re-use and sustainability.
Cartons have a major role to play and European customers are apt to choose products sold in cartons rather than plastic and tin packaging, because the use of cartons allows for easier recycling.
Greater product protection is also a growing trend. Hygienic packaging in the post-COVID era is likely to become a growing trend; the key aspect of this is that the virus has poor longevity on porous surfaces.
Food and cosmetic companies are also working hard on producing sustainable packaging. L’Oreal and Albea have been working on a paper-based tube that could be used for packaging cosmetics. Potentially this could pave the way for other paper-based, sustainable packaging options across a fairly wide part of L’Oreal’s beauty product portfolio.
Glass recycling in the EU is fairly high and benefits from the perception that glass is seen as an eco-friendly packaging material. Glass collection rates in Europe are as high as 76% but there are moves afoot to target a rate of 90%. A survey conducted last year by the European Container Glass Federation showed that increasing numbers of consumers are buying products packaged in glass bottles rather than plastic (relative to the base year of 2016), with purchasing decisions being driven by environmental considerations and their easy recyclability.
The European food industry is one of the most significant users of plastics and demand for plastic for the packaging of food continues to grow, irrespective of the popularity of competing materials. There remains a long way to go in altering the long-term relationship between the food industry and the plastics sector.
Last year, a new initiative called the European Plastics Pact was set up to implement various targets by 2025. This includes reducing the use of virgin plastic by at least 20% and increasing collection, sorting and recycling capacity by 25%. On the recycling side, the pact aims to increase the use of recycled plastics in packaging to at least 30%. Key companies in the food manufacturing industry, such as Unilever, Nestlé and Suez, are already signatories to the pact.
One interesting find reported is that it is believed there will be a downturn in the popularity of refill, re-use packaging systems by consumers.
Changing Packaging Behavior
The latter point may actually fly in the face of something that has been experienced in the UK as far as packaging and refilling is concerned. In the UK, Unilever has announced that it is expanded its trial for refill and re-use packaging. Originally piloted in a single supermarket store, Unilever announced in June that it is now trialing its refill and re-use experiment in seven different supermarket locations across the UK. The ambition is to change how consumers use packaging by shifting their experience away from single use to re-use.
The company will offer two options for consumers. Stainless steel is the material of choice in this experiment, and will be offered for traditional grab-and-go purchases as well as for the refillable option, which will be fulfilled at a refill zone in the supermarket. According to Unilever, the original trial “exceeded expectations” with weekly purchases of Persil from the refill zone reaching a third higher than the equivalent single use pack.
Driving Sustainable Carton Use in Europe
Recently in Europe, The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE), and its members SIG Combibloc, BillerudKorsnäs, Elopak, Stora Enso and Tetra Pak, set out a ten-point roadmap that captures the industry’s vision for the future: to deliver the most sustainable packaging for resilient food supply systems which is renewable, climate positive and circular.
Through its ambitious roadmap, the industry commits to take action on all parts of the industry value chain, from sustainable sourcing to climate impact and recycling. Increasing the collection and recycling of beverage cartons, to reach a 90% collection rate and at least a 70% recycling rate by 2030, and the decarbonization of the industry’s value chain in line with the 1.5°C aligned science-based targets are included in the ten commitments.
In line with the vision of ACE members, beverage cartons will be:
• Made only from renewable and/or recycled material.
• Fully recyclable and recycled.
• Made entirely from sustainably sourced raw materials.
• The packaging solution with the lowest carbon footprint.
“The industry has set high and ambitious standards for the next ten years,” said Annick Carpentier, director general of ACE. “We look forward to fostering a dialogue with EU decision-makers to ensure that the necessary regulatory conditions are in place to support the industry’s journey towards beverage cartons as the sustainable packaging choice for today and tomorrow.”
Beverage cartons are a recyclable low carbon packaging solution that protects food and beverages, allowing their safe use and transport while also preventing food waste. With the commitments and targets set in the 2030 Roadmap, the industry will strive for its packaging to continue to actively contribute towards the ambitions of the EU Green Deal, specifically climate neutrality, circularity, biodiversity and resilient food systems, while never compromising the health and safety of consumers.
“The industry continues to invest in innovation and technology to increase beverage carton recycling,” said Marcelle Peuckert, president of ACE. “The industry needs an enabling policy framework that will continue to support our investments and innovation over the next decade.”
ACE members have outlined clear deliverables, will report on the Roadmap’s overall progress on a regular basis, and will develop, add and adapt metrics should they not currently exist, also in partnership with others.
