Consumer Demand, Business Benefits Will Grow Sustainable Packaging Market to $440 Billion by 2025

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beach plasticsDoes your company use sustainable packaging? It should, according to recent market reports that forecast increased demand for recyclable, bio-based and other sustainable packaging types, driven largely by environmentally conscious consumers.

The global sustainable packaging market will reach about $440.3 billion by 2025, growing at a compound annual growth rate of around 7.7 percent, according to a Research and Markets report.

This follows a report by Persistence Market Research, also released this week, that says consumer demand is driving the growth in the sustainable packaging market.

The report highlights Dell as an early leader: the company has for years incorporated wheat straw, bamboo and mushrooms into its packaging and has set a goal of 100 percent sustainable packaging by 2020. Late last month Dell developed the technology industry’s first packaging trays made with 25 percent recycled ocean plastic content.

It is a trend that is gaining traction across industries, and providing business benefits in addition to satisfying customer demand and reducing your company's carbon footprint.

Sustainable packaging — such as using recycled plastic instead of glass like Sobieski Vodka is now doing — is often more lightweight, which make it less costly and more efficient to ship. In a similar vein, Dow’s RecycleReady Technology provides a lightweight, recyclable packaging option for flexible films, which are increasingly popular for food and beverage applications.

At the same time, some cities and states are banning plastic bags and other forms of packaging that end up in landfills.

Because of these factors — in addition to cheaper prices on recycled materials compared to virgin resources used in packaging — a growing number of leading companies are committing to using bio-based packaging and making their packing 100 percent recyclable, including  Procter & Gamble, Walmart, Unilever, PepsicCo and Coca-Cola.

But do these bio-based materials perform as well as their petroleum-based counterparts?

A 2016 study from Lux Research says yes. Not only do bio-based materials and chemicals perform as well, they can actually perform better than petro-based incumbents and offer real business value to companies, the report says.

 

 

Environment + Energy Leader