Packaging Trends for 2019
As we turn our heads to a new year, we’ve been thinking about the packaging trends we can expect to see throughout 2019.
Re-thinking plastics
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past 12 months, you’ll have noticed that the world is starting to take notice of the detrimental effect plastic is having on our environment, with ‘’single-use’’ named as word of the year for 2018.
Consumers are continuing to challenge brands over the perils of plastic waste. Now more than ever, it's often the determining factor for consumers as to which brand they perceive as the more 'environmentally friendly'.
Multi-use packaging
Sustainability involves challenging practices that are often overlooked. It’s a sobering fact that plastic bags have an average use-time of 12 minutes, but a life expectancy of 1000 years!
Finding more eco-friendly materials is paramount, but the solution also lies in multi-use designs. Encouraging consumers to see packaging as reusable, instead of single-use, will lessen wastage overall.
Flexible packaging
Customers now more than ever are on the lookout for packaging that provides greater shelf appeal, is easy to store, easy to open and reseal, easy to carry and packaging that extends product life.
The life cycle attributes of flexible packaging demonstrate many sustainable advantages. Flexible packaging starts with less waste in the first place, greatly reducing landfill discards. Innovation and improved technology have enabled flexible packaging manufacturers to use fewer natural resources in the creation of their packaging, and improvements in production processes have reduced water and energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
Re-usable packaging
Sticking with the environmental theme, re-usable packaging will be an emerging trend this year.
As consumers become more environmentally conscious, there will be added pressure for companies to reduce their impact on the environment. Change is happening, with the UK Plastic Pact launched in 2018, with 40 top brands including Sainsburys, Procter & Gamble and Tesco pledging to strip unnecessary plastic from their shelves by 2025.
