The food and beverage industry seemingly runs on plastics. From a soda bottle to a package of meat, it is difficult not to find the material when one peruses the supermarket. This is because it can serve a number of different functions for a variety of companies that are involved in the industry.
Rigid plastic packaging can serve as a vessel for a number of food products. Take a container of salsa for example. A plastic container can provide a reliable and secure vehicle for the product while being able to be produced in high volumes.
On the other hand, flexible plastic packaging also serves a major role in the food and beverage industry. Companies across industries are looking for innovative way to utilize these to customize the customer experience through sealing film such as used within the products like fish and poultry industries.
Companies explore alteratives through plastic packaging
Because of the various different uses for the poly packaging within the food and beverage industry, a number of various companies are looking for plastic packaging solutions to their operations. One major company that is doing so is Taco Bell.
Among the largest businesses in the fast food market, Taco Bell spends between $200 million and $250 million on packaging every year, through the various forms of containers that it uses for its products, according to Plastics News.
The news source explains that paper and plastic packaging solutions work in contrast with one another given that they can serve similar purposes for their product. One of the advantages paper packaging has over plastic is that new methods can be developed rather quickly, while the new methods for plastic packaging can take around 16 weeks.
Taco Bell has approximately 6,500 stores nationwide thus requiring large-scale innovation within their plastic packaging strategies. I love the frank and flexible approach Packaging Manager, Matthew Voigt, brought to this topic, "If you can bring solutions to age-old problems and make them work in our business, we will give you scale to support that, whether it's material, or technology, or function and forms. We're ready for it," he said. "We want to be your support system for that."
Plastics: A growing industry
Because of the advantages and disadvantages that come with the ever increasing poly market, businesses are striving to develop innovative solutions.
According to a recent report by Research and Markets, the global food and beverage plastic packaging market is expected to reach $149.8 billion by 2018. As new innovations emerge in the forms of containers and other packaging methods, this growth will likely address areas of question across muliple industries.
