Sustainable packaging market worth more than $42 billion by 2010

Shipments of sustainable or ‘green’ packaging exceeded $37 billion in 2005, according to ‘Sustainable Packaging Market for Food & Beverages’, a new report from market research publisher Specialists in Business Information (SBI).

In fact, the market supply for sustainable packaging is expected to surpass $42 billion in 2010. Sustainable plastics, which grew by five percent from 2001 to 2005, are expected to continue to grow at a similar rate through 2010 as demand for both rigid and flexible forms continues to increase, and plastics, along with metals, continue to eat into the market share of glass. Flexible packaging is also projected to grow at just over three percent during the next five years based on the success of stand-up pouches and retort packaging.