Packing materials

The Food and Packaging Machinery Manufacturing Federation revealed a comprehensive report examining the position of food and packaging manufacturing, in which the annual rate was estimated at 23.5%.

The report indicated that the packaging industry sector is an important economic factor at the global level and according to Smith R S Berra, the global packaging market is growing by 3.5% annually, and by 2020 it will have reached a size of 998 billion US dollars, (That is, equivalent to 900 billion euros.)

The dominance of plastic over other packaging materials in the market, according to Euromonitor, in 2015, 4,000 billion packages were sold globally, Plastic material is the most commonly used material for packaging, with approximately 50% of all packaging made from plastic. The majority of this, around 60%, is utilized in flexible plastic packaging, a number that continues to rise steadily. There's an increasing number of products being packaged with various types of flexible plastic materials, including plastic bags, plastic containers, and plastic film wraps, among others. This demand primarily stems from the food industry sector, where the primary concern is ease of handling, lightweight, and the required ease of opening and closing.

The demand for supported bags is the leading trend in the flexible plastic packaging sector, as this type of plastic aligns with customer demands for more convenience and ease of use. Supported bags are lightweight, meaning reduced resource usage and decreased transportation costs for goods. Moreover,

supported bags used for products requiring sterilization can be sterilized at lower temperatures, as the necessary temperatures can be reached more quickly compared to large metal cans, cardboard boxes, or aluminum foil pouches. With modern sterilizable and modern packaging, better product quality can be ensured, along with increased packing speed.

The second most widely used packaging group is rigid plastic containers, accounting for 40% of packaging. One of the main buyers of these containers is the beverage industry sector. PET material has been primarily used in beverage manufacturing for many years. 

The increasing global consumption of cold beverages, especially bottled water, will lead to a rise in demand for PET plastic packaging in the coming years, with a growing trend of replacing glass with rigid plastic containers.

While the beverage industry has been the main focus for PET container usage, its usage is now expanding to include food and household chemicals as well. 

This is due to the positive attributes of PET; it is lightweight, recyclable, shatterproof, and offers high transparency.

 Additionally, PET containers with a very thin layer of glass provide packaging for sensitive products such as beer, wine, or juices. 

This added layer extends the shelf life of the packaged product, preserving its quality, taste, and vitamin content for a longer period.

Cardboard packaging faces significant competition globally. In 2015, over 620 million units of paper/cardboard packaging were sold, with an expected growth of 7% in demand for cardboard packaging by 2019, according to Euromonitor International estimates. This growth is attributed to the rise of e-commerce, where products are predominantly packaged in cardboard. Retail sectors feel the evident and increasing competition from online sales. It's crucial to design efficient workflows at the workplace and present merchandise in the best possible way at the point of sale. Corrugated cardboard packaging plays a significant role here in providing what's known as "ready-to-ship" packaging.

SRP Shelf Read Paging (SRP) helps retailers improve operations and reduce costs. With SRP, the goods can be displayed on the shelves in a better manner and the consumer can have a better look at the products and ease of access to them. With sales of 420 million units in 2015, cans have become the third largest sector in packaging, and the beverage industry is the primary buyer of cans. A can is a container for beer, energy drinks, or other functional beverages that is often As they are distributed globally, increasing global demand for these beverages has a positive impact on the demand for metal containers for beverages, It is expected that the demand for it will increase. Compared to the beverage industry, the food sector uses only a small percentage of metal containers. Containers made of metal are practical and at the same time protect the product, and enable uncomplicated storage without the need for refrigeration, while food items remain fresh. Without preservatives, metal packaging allows for very fast processing speeds and thus keeps pace with the requirements of efficient processing and production chain. Despite the decrease in the weight of metal packaging in the past few years, metal packaging has begun to be replaced by lighter plastic packaging in the food industry sector. 

the glass.

Glass protects materials in an ideal way due to its composition and sealing, and therefore glass containers are used primarily in the beverage industry, especially in packaging beer, wine, and alcoholic beverages, but many consumers feel that the glass container is impractical due to its tendency to break, so they prefer products packaged in plastic. Glass as a packaging material will remain the first choice for high-quality products, and sales of glass as packaging containers are expected to increase by 7% by 2019, reaching sales of 338 million units. Intelligent packaging Active intelligent packaging.

Smart packages: They are all amazing, as they monitor and measure the environmental impact to which food is exposed, that is, they provide direct information about the level of quality of the product, and therefore smart packages, which are equipped with time-thermal indicators, can determine the quality of the product even after the expiration date. This technology provides a reliable indicator of whether the cold chain has been interrupted or if the product is still fit for consumption.

Active packaging provides more than the safety of food materials but rather provides protection for food materials against external influences such as the transfer of microbial germs, dust, or moisture, but this protection is only passive, meaning that modern packaging materials do much more than this, as they interact and activate these materials. In physical - biological - chemical processes, they regulate the humidity in the package, absorb oxygen, carbon dioxide, and ethylene, and extend the shelf life of the food product and the quality of the food, but the most important thing is that these materials are biologically chemically active and thus combat the spread of microbes.

New materials

Manufacturers rely on plastics for packaging that comes from renewable resources such as bioplastics extracted from cornstarch or sugarcane. An example of this is flexible plastic packaging made from several thin, transparent layers with insulating materials made of whey protein instead of polymers from the petrochemical industries. The protein layers of whey are biodegradable and ingredients that are derived from whey can extend the shelf life of food products in a way Naturally, after a little fine-tuning, these layers can be manufactured on traditional machines, and researchers are currently working on using a lining material from whey to produce heat-formed containers, such as cups or plates.

Machine growth

The packaging sector market will continue to grow for two reasons: increasing urbanization and the continuing trend toward easy and convenient foods. On a global level, the number of people residing in cities is increasing, and their daily supply of high-quality food and other required goods represents a huge logistical challenge, so packaging and packaging here is the key to the solution. Transporting these quantities of food and goods without damaging them to customers, and increasing consumption due to the growth of the middle class in developing countries and new industrialized countries, in addition to increasing competitiveness in mature markets, and thus increasing growth in the packaging sector.

Ease of use and the requirement of convenience are important drivers for the packaging market. The consumer will continue to demand quick and easy-to-use products, especially in the food industry.