While rigid plastic packaging is projected to grow at an annual rate of more than 3%, this type of packaging is facing some major challenges. The two key threats are the emergence of flexible, transparent plastic packaging and an increasing concern of sustainability. 

The Benefits of Emerging, Flexible Transparent Plastic Packaging

In the recent years, rigid packaging formats have been gradually taken over by flexible packaging types such as transparent plastic packaging. This is due to the pre-cycling benefits offered by flexible packages because of environmental issues and unpredictable polymer prices. They use less energy and fewer resources than their rigid counterparts. This results in great reductions in costs, materials usage, and even some performance advantages in display marketing.

Transparent plastic packaging with VueCraft is recyclable and easily processed, lightweight for easy transportation and can be customized to your specific product. Transparency allows the potential customer greater access to your product, encouraging a greater engagement and driving more sales. It is ideal for displaying not only the product but your company’s branding, its specifications and colors.

In particular, transparent plastic packaging, like stand-up pouches, use less material and are lighter than their rigid container equivalent. To further challenge the rigid packaging formats, designers are looking to include new features such as child-proof lids or caps, and handles to achieve the desired pack differentiation so popular with rigid plastic packaging. 

Sustainable packaging is megatrend across industries, which has certain implications for the growth of rigid plastic packaging. The rising pressure to reduce the environmental impact of packaging has prompted brand owners to rethink the type of material they use to pack their products. They have responded to this public concern in three ways: reduction in material usage, increased usage of recycled plastics, and adopting bioplastic packaging. As such, manufacturers are becoming more conscious by using recyclable transparent plastic packaging to meet environmental concerns.