Packaging goes green

Food and beverage packaging is one of the most significant components of the packaging market, for which the US is the largest global market, according to a Reportlinker report entitled Sustainable ('Green') Packaging Market for Food and Beverage Worldwide, 2nd Edition Report.

The report says growth of food and beverage packaging is approximately 3% annually, with the market is being driven by important innovations and technological developments.

Packaging for food and beverages is primarily designed to preserve and protect the contents; secondarily, it serves as a marketing tool to attract consumers.

Today's innovations add a new dimension – environmental concern.

Once thought of as only recycling, sustainability refers the entire life cycle of products.

Considerations of packaging's sustainability include analysis of source materials, the manufacturing/production processes and technologies, transportation and distribution, and end-of-life scenarios.

Sustainability is a relatively new issue for the industry, in which key players acknowledge being in the early stages of the learning curve.

At the same time sustainability policies are nearly universal among packaging companies, which are sensitive to the environmental, economic, regulatory, and public image aspects of the issue.