Food packaging continues to be an area abundant with innovation. While the number of new food product launches is declining, the number of those launches based on new packaging is increasing, which is helping to expand the sustainable packaging market. In fact, according to a report conducted by Smithers Pira (smitherspira.com), the sustainable packaging market will hit $244 billion by 2018, based on consumer demand and advances in material technology. Today, consumers are demanding more, especially more sustainable packaging, which is driving innovation in food industry packaging. At Asia Pulp and Paper (APP, asiapulppaper.com), we see five rising trends in this area that will continue throughout 2014:
Traceability:For a long time, consumer purchasing decisions have been based in part on what happens to their packaging once they discard it. But more recently, we see consumers increasingly basing purchasing decisions on the traceability and sustainability of products and packaging through the entire supply chain. At the core, consumers want assurance that their packaging is from a legal, acceptable and sustainably managed source. As traceability is both an environmental and an ethical issue, brands are adapting their sourcing to enable them to communicate with consumers about traceability through the supply chain, from procurement to transport to end-of-life cycle.