Drinks packaging trends
By Paul Jenkins, Managing Director, ThePackHub
The drinks industry continues to evolve with packaging innovation a priority for many beverage operators. ost of the drive in innovation is towards improving sustainability, with the majority of brands, retailers and packaging suppliers working towards challenging targets as part of plastic pacts in place in many of the major global markets. The aim is to achieve 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging by 2025. With just over three years to go, the pace of change is accelerating despite some initial disruption created by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, pending plastic tax obligations in some markets encourage plastic packaging use with a percentage of recycled content. In the UK, due for implementation in April next year, the proportion of recycled plastic to avoid additional taxes is 30%. Inevitably, this is having an impact on the types of drink packaging initiatives coming through the innovation pipeline. Reducing plastic Both plastic reduction and elimination have been strong themes for drinks packaging as
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it has been across all consumer goods categories in recent times. Switching out of plastic can be difficult for operators due to the material’s inherently inexpensive nature, as well as its versatility, strength and overall practicality. Taking plastic out of the drinks market supply chain continues to come to our attention. An example of this, comes via Aldi. The UK’s fifth-largest supermarket has recently revealed plans to remove shrink wrap from multipacks for their own-brand cola, lemonade and tropical fruit fizzy drinks as well as across their beer and cider brands. The supermarket will use FSCcertified cartonboard instead and estimates that the initial switch will save over 90 tonnes of plastic each year. It is part of
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a wider movement that is seeing plastic removed from Aldi’s multipack secondary packaging and replaced with paper-based alternatives. In some cases, multipacks have been withdrawn from sale in preference to the selling of multiple combinations of single units. The change to 100% recyclable, FSC-certified cartonboard will mean that nearly 11 million Aldi 330ml own-label packs will switch to packaging that is widely recyclable throughout the UK. The complete roll-out to include all own-brand beer and cider products is estimated to save over 150 tonnes of plastic annually. Bio-based materials There are a significant number of compostable, biodegradable and bio-based solutions both
