Packaging Overview

Although packaging has, in recent years, been accused of using up valuable resources, it is nevertheless absolutely essential. Packaging is vital to protect and conserve the items contained within it.

The dominant purpose of packaging is to protect the product so that it reaches the consumer in the same condition as when it was first made. However there is a lot more to the effectiveness and usefulness of packaging than just protection. When a consumer picks up their carton of freshly squeezed mango juice, they are not aware of the energy and money saved by the packaging they are grasping in their hands.

In order to fully understand the essential role packaging plays in every day life, it is necessary to understand the guiding principles behind it.

Why packaging is necessary

Protection of the product means that there must be a resistance to both internal and external corrosion, with effective properties that guarantee resistance to gas, oxygen, water and smells.

Packaging must be safe, it must be impregnable and have safeguards in place to show that it has not been tampered with.

Much of consumer confidence in the products they buy derives from the knowledge that the product has not been opened or tampered with, as seen through the existence of visible seals on products such as the mango juice carton.

Packaging is vital to conserve the product. In industrialised countries only 2% of products are spoilt when they reach the consumer compared with a staggering 30-50% in developing countries, where the packaging chain is less well developed.

Packaging must meet consumer requirements that products are not just kept in top condition but that they are kept fresher for longer.

Packaging also performs overtly technical functions, displaying what the product actually is and information regarding the product, as well as creating brand awareness. Consumer demands and legislative requirements mean that information contained on packaging has become far more specific, for example, detailing the origin and composition of the product.

Packaging is also the spokesperson for the manufacturer of the product. The package is the interface between the maker and consumer and therefore must present a desirable image. One of the best examples of which is the Coca-Cola bottle shape which is known the world over and is protected as a registered trade mark.

Types

Packaging can be broken down into five main types:-

• Paper and board

• Plasti

• Glass

• Metal

• Wood

All meet the different needs of the consumer, producer, transporter etc.

One of the most popular types of packaging is paper and cardboard. It is easy to see why when one considers that paper and cardboard packaging is cheap, lightweight, easy to use and store, and can be easily compressed.

The Packaging Supply Chain

The first link in the chain is the manufacturer of the packaging material, this basic material is then bought by a specialist packaging manufacturer company (a converter).

The specialist manufacturer then provides the company who will use the packaging for their product (a packer/filler) with a homogenous template onto which the company will add their own identity, through labelling, branding etc.

The packaging is then delivered onto the next stage of the chain where it will pass through the hands of the wholesaler, the retailer, and the consumer.

At the end of the chain, the packaging can be recycled, reused or disposed of.

The importance of packaging on the economy of Europe is highlighted by the fact that 63% of all goods that circulate on the European market in any given year return to the packaging chain, with a value of EURO 538 billion.