Green Packaging Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Green Packaging Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Green Packaging Market is expected to register a CAGR of 5.7% over the forecast period from 2021 to 2026. As the COVID-19 outbreak became a pandemic, coverage began shifting away from sustainability and towards the virus and its impact on the world. The pandemic has also seen a rise in plastic waste. According to Forbes, a lot of personal protective equipment (PPE) used by the public is being discarded carelessly. The pushback against single-use plastic bans has heightened demand for bottled water, plastic bags, and disposable wipes, and sanitizers.

Key Highlights

• Concerns about environmental impacts caused by these plastic bottles continue to increase across the food and beverage industry, leading to several companies using recycled plastic (rPET) in their bottle design, thus, boosting the market growth. Increasing awareness about environmental concerns among consumers and industries is primarily increasing the growth of the green packaging market.
• Increasing public awareness about environmental concerns has resulted in higher demand for sustainable packaging and processing operations. Sustainability initiatives have advanced considerably, leading manufacturers to reduce the source material by downgrading, creating thinner and lighter packaging, and reducing waste. Issues about sustainability, environment, ethics, safety, quality, and product costs are becoming increasingly crucial for modern-day consumers when purchasing products. A number of these issues are also enforced by legislative packaging regulations, which is expected to have a positive impact on the green packaging market, globally.
• In January 2020, Nestlé planned to spend as much as 2 billion Swiss francs (USD 2.1 billion) on shifting its packaging from virgin plastics to food-grade recycled plastics and increasing the development of more sustainable solutions. The food giant said it will buy up to 2 million metric tons of food-grade recycled plastics and devote more than USD 1.6 billion to pay a premium for these materials between 2020 and 2025. The company also will launch a sustainable packaging venture fund with 250 million Swiss francs (USD 260 million) to invest in start-up companies focusing on these areas.
• In October 2019, Coca-Cola Western Europe and Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) stepped up their ambitions for a World Without Waste by accelerating their joint action plan to collect, recycle, and reuse their packaging. The two partners are raising the bar of This is Forward, their sustainability action plan for Western Europe, which pledged that by 2025 Coca-Cola would collect a can or bottle for everyone that it sells; ensure that all of its packagings are 100% recyclable and ensure that at least 50% of the content of its plastic bottles comes from recycled material. They announced further goals designed to accelerate their delivery of a sustainable packaging roadmap for Western Europe, ensuring that all of their packagings are collected, recycled, and reused.
• The beginning of 2020 saw packaging news dominated by stories related to helping the environment and becoming as sustainable as possible. Many companies were switching to eco-friendly alternatives and coming up with innovative technology to help the environment in the packaging industry. Edible or biodegradable packaging was widely discussed as alternatives.

Key Market TrendsPersonal Care is Expected to Witness Significant Growth

• According to a study by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, around 8 million tons of plastic waste ends up in oceans every year, globally. The report also predicts plastic debris to outweigh fish by 2050, unless drastic actions are taken. Much of the floating waste is expected to collect in several large ocean vortices far from land. It is estimated that 95% of the plastic packaging material is lost to the economy after a short single-use cycle, at the cost of USD 80-120 billion. A sizeable share of the plastic that ends in oceans takes an even higher toll on value and health. Natural personal care and beauty label SoulTree has also made a significant start in terms of sustainable packaging. The company has launched biodegradable packaging, which can be decomposed naturally with the help of moisture and microorganisms.
• In the personal care industry, there is also a shift towards sustainable packaging materials. Ocean plastic is becoming established with several brands recuperating ocean from the sea and beaches to use in product packaging. This is leading to consumers and governments, in many countries, taking action toward recycling environmental wastes. Countries like India (some of the states) have banned the use of plastic packaging for various purposes. Similarly, the majority of the supermarkets in Britain pledged to remove unnecessary single-use plastics by 2025, under the UK Plastics Pact. This has resulted in an increased focus on green and sustainable packaging, thereby driving the market growth.
• WWP, one of the leading providers of cosmetic packaging components, plastic tubes, and full-service turnkey solutions for the beauty and personal care industries, has introduced additional green initiatives to provide more eco-friendly packaging. The company’s green initiative is aimed squarely at materials was active from January 2020, all tubes manufactured at the company’s Suzhou facility will be done utilizing sugarcane bio-resin, an all-natural renewable resource. By converting sugarcane into ethylene, the company creates a product with the same chemical makeup of fossil fuel-based polyethylene. The result, says WWP, is a package that is not only highly functional but also 100% recyclable and far less harmful to the environment.
• In November 2019, Henkel extended its collaboration with the social enterprise Plastic Bank for another five years. Henkel will engage in supporting ongoing projects in Haiti, the Philippines, and Indonesia and significantly contribute to the development of infrastructure of more than 400 Plastic Bank collection points in Egypt. Alone in 2020, Henkel will integrate more than 600 tons of recycled material called Social Plastic in its product packaging. More innovation has come from The Body Shop, which launched the world’s first ‘fairly traded’ recycled plastics in 2019. he ethical cosmetics firm has partnered with Plastics For Change to give a fair price to waste pickers in Bengaluru (India) to collect plastic. Two hundred fifty tonnes of Fair Trade recycled plastic will be collected in 3 million haircare bottles in 2020. The company even proposed a plan to combine the materials across its recycled plastics product portfolio within three years.

United States to Execute a Significant Market Share

• North America is one of the largest markets for green packaging, globally. Unlike many regions in the world, where government regulations play a crucial part in the growth of green packaging, high awareness and consumer preferences for eco-friendly solutions are the prime reasons for rapid adoption.
• Although the green packaging is prevalent among all manufacturers in Canada and the United States, governing policies and consumer behavior differ considerably.
• According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the country generates almost 80 million metric ton of packaging waste every year. About half of that packaging waste in the country comes from food and beverage products. The agency mentioned that large food corporations, like Nestle and Unilever, generate majority of the plastic waste.
• With the increasing packaging waste generated, governments across the world are adapting to alternative sources, such as biodegradable packaging. The United States has only 4% of the world’s population and generates 2% of global Municipality Solid Waste (MSW). It has also been stated that the United States produces more than 106.2 kg of plastic waste per person per year.
• Following such waste generation reports, in November 2019, the United States drafted two regulations, aiming at better managing of packaging material waste, reducing marine pollution, introducing return deposit scheme, extending producer responsibility, and banning plastic bags.

Competitive Landscape

With opportunities benefiting existing players and enabling their entry, the green packaging market is experiencing intensive competition. Barriers to entry of new players are relatively low, coupled with packaging companies witnessing an increase in sales, the competitive rivalry in the market is increasing considerably. The Green packing market studied comprises market incumbents, such as Amcor Limited, DS Smith PLC, Ball Corporation, and TetraPak International SA. Several regional firms and new entrants are also trying to gain significant market share. Due to this, market incumbents have been identified to adopt a powerful competitive strategy characterized by acquisitions, merger and acquisition activity, and a strong emphasis on R&D. The firm concentration ratio is also expected to increase considerably over the forecast period.

• May 2020 - DS Smith launched its Circular Design Principles, which reveals new research that shows there is a desperate need for consistent design to cut through the confusion in the recycling of packaging. The process has been developed in partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and has been created to support companies' design reusability and recyclability into their packaging. This comes as a new study uncovers that European adults admit to throwing 41% of their recyclable material into general waste.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

Companies Mentioned

Amcor Limited
Ardagh Group SA
Ball Corporation
Crown Holdings Incorporated
DS Smith PLC
Elopak AS
Emerald Packaging
Mondi Group
Nampak Ltd
PlastiPak Holdings Inc.
Sealed Air Corporation
Sonoco Products Company
Sgf packaging Co. Ltd
Tetra Pak International SA
Uflex Limited
WestRock Company

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