Environmental and health protection are words on everyone’s lips. The industry increasingly focuses on environment and health-compatible products, the so-called “bio products”. However, not everything with the “Bio” label really contains something organic – but everything with the “Bio” label is green.

Green is “in”. Nature – pastures, forests and flowers – are all green. But the colour green has long been associated with much more than that – with the mainstream trends health, ecology and organics. In the meantime, almost everything modern is green. The whole world depends on environmental awareness – green sells. However “green” no longer refers to that one colour. Green has long turned into a characteristic property producers in all sectors of industry want to promote their products with – be it food, vehicles, cosmetics, fashion or entire manufacturing processes. As a logical consequence “green” packaging is the be-all and end-all of this value chain.

Quality characteristic: green

There are scarcely any products left that do not feature green as a colour in their brands, logotype or packaging and refer to themselves as being “green”. Green is omnipresent and nearly everything is green. There are products that have always featured green in their brand presence but many only included the colour following extensive design re-launched over the past few years. “Green is the new black” – seems to be the mantra of the fashion-conscious economy. When googling the term “green packaging” you will come up with hundreds of products. But what are consumers really after? Is it just about the colour? Is it about the contents? Is it about the philosophy underlying the products? Or does the colour and/or properties of “green” (products) promise everything shoppers want?

This breakthrough has probably also been helped by the fact that the definition of “green packaging” is a very wide one. In actual fact, all materials qualify that are either reusable or contain relevant ingredients, that forego toxic agents and use renewable energies in the manufacturing process. Even production processes that optimise raw material and energy consumption can help to obtain the quality feature “green packaging”.

USA: Growth in “green” packaging

In the USA the demand for “green” packaging is growing at an above-average rate. It accounts for nearly one third of the complete packaging needs and figures are rising. Retail chains such as Wal-Mart have long started assessing their suppliers’ packaging also in terms of ecological and resource-saving aspects.

Market research institute Freedonia Group Inc. forecasts that demand for green packaging material in the United States of America will rise by 3.4 % annually between 2008 and 2013. The packaging market as a whole is expected to only grow by 1.9 % over this period. In the previous 5-year period demand for environment friendly packaging amounted to an average of 4.8 %. The share of “green” packaging in the overall packaging market stood at 29.2 % in the USA in 2008 and this is forecast to rise to 31.5 % by 2013. In terms of value this means an increase from US$ 37.2 billion to US$ 43.9 billion.

Robust growth for recyclable plastics

While the demand for packaging from recyclable materials is rising at a similar rate to total demand for “green” packaging, products from recyclable plastics are enjoying even more robust growth says Germany Trade & Invest (gtai). The reason for this is primarily that attempts to increase collected waste volume and develop more food-compatible resins are constantly growing. By contrast it is anticipated that packaging in recyclable paper will post low growth by comparison because it is largely dominated by the mature corrugated board and cardboard markets. In the re-usable packaging segment re-usable plastic containers are also expected to offer the best perspectives for growth.

The Organic Revolution

The first “organic” packaging came in the form of greyish cartons with simple drawings and extremely plain design. Today, especially in the organic sector the highest-quality packaging complying with highly innovative design requirements can be found at the PoS. The sector has undergone a fundamental image change over the past few years. The segment also boasts impressive progress in the children’s food segment. Examples here include the US frozen food manufacturer Popkoff’s Frozen Foods that received the “Kids’ Organic Packaging Award” for its kids’ custom range last year. Or the new organic kids’ joghurt by Andechser Natur. Developed by the brand agency Koye-Brand the packaging look is designed to be fun for children and convincing for their parents. The look & feel focuses on the popular figure Maxi Murmel. The marmot wearing “lederhosen” is meant to highlight the authentic origin and natural, organic quality of the product. Or the Weihenstephan dairy: from autumn this year the fresh milk of this tradition-rich German company will be retailed in 1-l Tetra-top bottles. With this product relaunch the company responds to two top trends in the milk market: On the one hand, the growing demand for fresh pasteurised milk, and, on the other, the desire for organic products. The special feature about the new packaging is the cap designed to help consumers identify the organic quality of this milk at a glance. It is – naturally green!