Flexibility is packaging’s future. That’s evident if you look in any grocery store. Products from baby food to motor oil now come in plastic pouches. Packagers continue to devise new ways of creating sizes and shapes of pouches for retailers from convenience to dollar stores. Brands continue to come up with new designs and graphics to appeal to the busy mom, on-the-go teens and smaller households.
Estimates put the US flexible plastic packaging market at $16.2 billion in 2012 – nearly 20 percent of all packaging. Leading market researcher Freedonia Group estimates annual growth of 3 percent, to $18.8 billion in 2017. Pouches will be the fastest-growing type of flexible packaging at 3.6 percent a year, based on new applications and the advantage of lighter weight that can vastly reduce production and transportation costs.