Care should be taken when reading short claims about film packaging growth to consider whether they
accurately characterize the overall film packaging marketplace in Canada. The first two bullets above
illustrate the difference in package growth rates that market maturity makes for one specific flexible
package format – stand‐up pouches. While very high packaging growth is currently occurring in
emerging markets in Asia, translating into a high global growth rate, the same is not the case in mature
packaging markets like that of Canada, the United States, and Europe. Similarly, care should be taken
not to presume that forecasted growth rates for certain small but growing package formats, like that of
pouches, characterizes the growth rate for the entire film packaging market as a whole. This is
illustrated in the third example where overall film packaging growth in North America (including Canada,
Mexico, and the U.S.) is forecasted at much lower rates.
There are different growth rates for different package materials, formats, and contained products. For
example, stand‐up pouches are believed to represent a low percentage of the tonnage of flexible
packaging in Ontario – even if this one package type has a high growth rate, it does not result in a high
overall growth rate for all film packaging in the province. Furthermore, growth in some film packaging
applications may result in a decline in other film categories. For example, if a brand‐owner converts its
packaging for raisins from a bag‐in‐box format, where a PE film bag is used inside of a paperboard box,
to a stand‐up pouch format, the growth in stand‐up pouch tonnage is partially offset by a decline in the
use of PE film for the bag‐in‐box format.
The project team conducted interviews with six leading companies that produce film packaging for the
Canadian marketplace to better understand film plastics trends that are applicable in Canada. These
interviews were informative and revealed the following:
Film packing producers have been able to reduce the amount of film used to package products
due to improvements in package production technology. In some cases they have substituted a
stronger material such as polypropylene for polyethylene, allowing less plastic to be used
through down‐gauging while maintaining the same mechanical performance properties.
Interest in biodegradable materials has moderated as many brand owners have concluded that
biodegradable materials have recycling challenges and do not necessarily have a superior
environmental profile compared traditional resins; however, consumers still generally believe
that biodegradable materials are better for the environment than non‐biodegradable materials.
Brand owners have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in capital for North American
package filling lines. Replacing these lines with new lines designed for flexible film packaging
will occur slowly over time as the conversion is costly.
The trend to replace rigid package formats with flexible multi‐laminate package formats
continues due to the superior performance and material reduction that can be achieved – most
of the growth is for this type of packaging rather than single‐resin films.
Figure 1 presents estimates for residential packaging film generated in Ontario in the past with
projections for the future. Numerical estimates used to create Figure