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News
2020/11/13
Taking a Look at Industry Trends (part 2 of 2)
Taking a Look at Industry Trends
Source from: https://www.flexpackmag.com/articles/90727-taking-a-look-at-industry-trends
Q: Which area in flexible packaging do you see as growing the fastest?
A: We see the highest growth in areas like medical packaging, e-commerce packaging and pet food packaging, based on consumer demographics and trends.
Demand for consumer staples like food and beverage will continue to grow alongside increased demand for recyclability, helping to drive circular economy progress. For example, consumer demand led to the development of a SUP, and demand for sustainability is motivating more brand owners to explore making them recyclable.
Q: Where do you see all of these elements leading the industry?
A: The industry is working together to address the plastic waste issue, developing a circular economy for plastics to maximize the value that plastic provides.
It will take a suite of solutions and diverse thinking to achieve this, which is why Dow focuses on advancing recycling and building new processes and technologies to eliminate plastic waste. For example, we’re a founding member of The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, and we’re excited about the American Chemistry Council’s From Single Use to Reuse industry-wide initiative.
For Dow, it has led us to put sustainability and recyclability at the foundation of new product design and development, simplifying the use of materials and working closely with partners and customers so flexible packaging can be cost-effectively recycled.
Q: Can you tell us about any new or upcoming Dow products?
A: We have many exciting developments in the pipeline, our INNATE TF 80 resin for BOPE is creating new possibilities for all-PE structures for SUPs and other packaging formats. We have several sealants in our AFFINITY Polyolefin Plastomer product line that enable low seal-initialization temperatures for faster line speeds.
We believe that our customers and brand owners shouldn’t have to choose between high-performance and sustainable packaging, so we focus on technologies that can deliver on both.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add that these questions haven’t addressed?
A: As it relates to our current environment, consumer buying behaviors have changed, and the longer COVID lingers, the more likely these behaviors will become the new norm.
There is increasing awareness that our behaviors do have a meaningful impact on the environment. For example, Los Angeles air quality improving due to people quarantining during COVID. Overall, this builds momentum to address plastic waste and climate change.
Now more than ever, embracing responsibility for addressing the problem is important for all companies in the industry. When we talk about sustainability and packaging, we must consider the impact of food waste. The issues of food insecurity — along with the increase in global population growth — makes it increasingly important to keep food fresh for as long as possible.
Dow offers products like SURLYN Ionomers, which have long been a go-to option for flexible packaging formats and have excellent secondary sealing and protein adhesion, making them great materials for extending freshness for meats, cheeses and other foods.