The Plastic Packaging Market 2012-2022 is Visiongain ‘s new materials report for readers globally. Although the overall packaging industry was severely impacted by the economic recession, the plastic packaging market is gradually gaining significance through the latest technologies and enhanced products in the vast global packaging industry.

The global plastic packaging market is a steadily growing market which is expected to follow a modest growth rate in mature markets and a progressive above average growth rate in emerging markets. Visiongain calculates that the global plastic packaging market will reach $196.42bn in 2012.

Whilst the recession impacted demand for all types of packaging; upcoming environmental issues, changing consumer needs, high disposable incomes and improved packaging products, have resulted in sturdy growth for plastic packaging. Visiongain expects the global packaging market and in particular, the plastic packaging market to demonstrate solid growth in line with previously expected growth rates.

The emerging economies, which in total maintained positive growth during the crisis, will continue to register strong growth, driving demand for sustainable, lightweight, user-friendly and enhanced plastic packaging products in the coming decade. Plastics have increasingly replaced traditional materials in the packaging industry because of their lightweight and superior functionality. Although the consumption of flexible plastic packaging is growing at a rapid pace, rigid plastic packaging still holds the majority of the market.

A key trend that has been beneficial to growth has been a shift by the consumer to consumption at home. In an attempt to save money, many consumers are attempting to re-create the dining out experience at home, with intelligently packaged ready meals. As such plastic packaging applications are increasing in the food & beverage sectors. Also, the sub-markets of the consumer plastic packaging industry continue to rapidly develop, with stand out growth rates being witnessed in the personal care and healthcare sectors in particular.

The plastic packaging market stands immune to the recent economic downturn as technological advancements related to lightweight, convenient and sustainable packaging will retain its demand in the industry. Furthermore, key industry players and manufacturers are opting for better materials made from renewable sources for packaging purposes thus keeping them out of the landfills.

Environmental-friendliness and sustainability have become basic qualifying criterions for all packaging products. In this regard, the plastic packaging market is at a distinctive advantage since with the advent of biodegradable plastic and bio-plastic, the plastic packaging market has gained an edge over other packaging materials, which makes it easier to recycle, reduce and reuse and raise its eco-friendly profile.

The global plastic packaging industry is expected to exhibit solid growth, driven by three major drivers – escalating demand for lightweight and sustainable packaging solutions; healthier and better lifestyles worldwide; and rapidly developing emerging markets with improved disposable incomes and growing consumer demand for plastic packaging across all submarkets.

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An environmental activist was shot and killed in Brazil. Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva, an activist that sought to protect the Amazon rain forest from loggers, was killed just hours before Brazil’s lower house of Congress passed legislation that environmentalists fear will increase deforestation in the region.

Da Silva and his wife were attacked by gunmen on Tuesday in an interior city in the jungle state of Para in northern Brazil, police said. Authorities were investigating the crime and no arrests had been made.  The Catholic Land Pastoral (CPT), a group that tracks violence against environmental activists, said more than 1,150 activists, small farmers, judges, priests and other rural workers have been killed in disputes over preserving land since the 1988 murder of Brazil’s renowned rain forest protector Chico Mendes.

According to the CPT, most of the murders go unpunished.  In the Amazon region, local governments are easily swayed by big industry loggers and ranchers that illegally clear forest to allow more farming.  Federal prosecutors believe that the violence is ordered by rich producers who contract gunmen to kill anyone standing in their way.

In the most recent case, the CPT said that the gunmen cut off Silva’s ear, likely to use it as proof to whoever hired them that they indeed killed the activist. “The state will not tolerate this type of violence in our territory,” Para state Public Safety Secretary Luiz Fernandes Rocha said in a statement. “We’ve mobilized a team to investigate what happened and detain those responsible for the crime.”

Silva, 52, had fought with loggers before. The CPT said Silva and his wife, Maria do Espirito Santo, were tenacious Amazon defenders and were active against loggers who pressured rubber tappers in the region. The group said in a statement that the couple went out of their way to block roads, stop logging trucks and denounce illegal loggers to Brazil’s environmental agency and the government, all despite knowing they were putting their lives in danger. “In past years they received several death threats from loggers and farmers,” the statement said. “Last year, they escaped an ambush when gunmen went looking for them at their house.”

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