Packaging production - what materials do we use most often?

Today, a small part of consumers are wondering what a huge role packaging plays in our lives. And almost every product that goes on sale, not just in retail, is packaged in some way; moreover, packaging makes up a significant part of the global industry. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to the plastics that are most often used for their production. If this topic is unfamiliar to you, I encourage you to read!

Awareness of ubiquitous packaging

So let's first take a look at what it looks like for chewing gums. Each of the pieces of paper is packed in a "piece of paper", these individual pieces of paper are inserted into a parcel and packed in "mass retail" packaging. They, in turn, are often displayed in the window when ordering, acting as both a one-and-a-half package and a shelf display. However, before they make it to this impulse shopping shelf, they are packed in a cardboard display box that is shipped from the factory on a distribution pallet. Such an inconspicuous product, and it is surrounded by a lot of packages.

Each of them plays a different role. Packaging is not only a means of advertising and communication with the consumer, but also communication at every stage of the "product life" on the way to us, consumers. Pallets, bulk boxes, displays, small bulk and single packages, label ... - each of them ensures the security of the product and the source of information about it at each stage of distribution. These are unavoidable, necessary actions that help manufacturers ensure consistent product quality and control its path from the moment it leaves the production line until the consumer makes a purchase. They also provide confidence that in the event of any violations, we can quickly and easily identify the unwanted batch of products and withdraw them from the market, minimizing losses and possible risks for our recipient.

This is also the result of the data provided by Eurostat in 2020: the amount of packaging waste from all materials accounted for per EU resident is 177.2 kg per year; in Croatia it is only 66 kg, and in Germany it is 225.8 kg per capita. We "consume" the contents along with their packaging-even if not all of them come to us, consumers, directly, nevertheless, we must remember that we consume much more of them than we think.

Manufacturers in Seats

In theory, manufacturing companies have unlimited opportunities to demonstrate the use of packaging. It's true? On the contrary!

The specifics of the manufactured product legally limit the manufacturer's ability to use certain raw materials or packaging technologies. This, of course, is due to concern for the safety of the consumer. A different package is used for bulk products, and a different package is used for liquid products. In addition, each of these product groups has different physical and chemical properties... in the case of the food industry, these requirements are very high-products need a specific barrier that will "protect" them from the environment and help take care of their durability. In colloquial industry speech, this is called m.in it is called breathing or non-breathing, permeability or impenetrability, and so on.

Once we determine the raw materials in which we can pack a given product, the engineers who build the packaging lines come into play. Today, most of the products are manufactured on an industrial scale, and the industry requires maximum automation. However, the financial costs that are required to do this are very high, and their income is often converted into years of production. Most of these lines are solutions designed for the individual needs of manufacturers. Thus, we fall into the” trap" where any change in packaging is associated with the risk of rebuilding the line or even having to develop another one. Stuck in these seats, manufacturers can't keep up with the development of technology; thus, they pass on the speed of packaging changes depending on the degree of depreciation of their lines. And in any case, these modifications are still necessary, because they are forced by the economy of production and the end user – after all, it is for him that we produce the product and its packaging.

Leading Raw materials

Among the trends that we can observe in the packaging industry, it is definitely the leader increasing the share of paper packaging. This is caused primarily by:

• research on the presence of plastics in living organisms - both their penetration into our bodies, and irreparable damage from their presence;
• growing awareness and sense of responsibility among societyas if forcing producers to choose more environmentally friendly and more easily processed raw materials-mainly paper and its derivatives.

Paper, unfortunately, does not give us unlimited opportunities, but it is still a very dynamic packaging sector, the characteristics of which are still changing. For example: today, papers covered with special barriers are more often used, which give even more opportunities for application.

Some of these solutions were developed in the last century, after which it was replaced by plastics – here it is worth mentioning, for example, special wax coatings that are a barrier to fats. The other group consists of recent solutions that allow paper to be coated with cellulose films, thereby providing a barrier to liquid substances. Things continue to evolve, and the paper is largely recycled-which definitely bodes well for the future.

What about paper? What raw materials do we most often use in the packaging industry?*

• paper and cardboard-41.2%,
• plastics-19.5%,
• glass – 19.1%,
• tree – 15.1%,
• metal-5%.

However, I expect changes in this rating-mainly in the position of plastics, which are already losing out in favor of paper and glass. I think that legislative influences will play a big role here, as, however, has already been the case, for example, in the case of plastic cutlery or sanitary sticks.

More eco-friendly, less economical

However, plastics are still an important part of the packaging market, and it is, after all, the youngest way to package products. They owe their huge share:

• the economy of production is a relatively cheap raw material in relation to the rest;
• small volume and low weight compared to competitors;
• easy to form.

Thus, the economic aspect still prevails over the environmental aspect, and the industry is seeing an increase in the share of plastics in the packaging market from year to year (Report of the PlasticsEurope Foundation Poland, Plastics Industry 2022However, it is worth paying attention to recycling companies that are very dynamically developing the processing of these artificial materials, managing them and returning them to circulation – such actions undoubtedly contribute to protecting the environment and ourselves.

Of course, this is not enough. The education and consumer awareness aspect is incredibly important here. In the end, we decide which solutions manufacturers will use. The "more economical, less environmentally friendly" principle will not work if consumers – making informed decisions and acting in the best interests of the environment-do not support plastic-based production. 

Change for the better comes slowly

Summing up what I wrote above – changes for the better are undoubtedly associated with the huge work of the "responsible" part of the human population. They come slowly because they are complex and depend on many factors. If the sequential actions that start at the base continue, then the expected effect will follow.

Most packages end up as garbage. What kind of garbage we have and what we will do with it depends only on us. We can give them a second life, choose less harmful ones, change the trend, reverse the process of degradation... we influence everything around us; we can teach ourselves and others.

Today, with full responsibility, we can conclude that we have started the trend of conscious choice. They determine how each industry will change, how one of its branches will change, and the dynamics of these changes will gain momentum. Therefore, I think that consistency in environmental protection will replace the most irresponsible choices and minimize the share of packaging made from plastics.

* Data source: Eurostat Report for 2020