Top Packaging Applications for a Transition from Plastic to Paper

The trend to sustainability is pervasive across the packaging industry, but the impetus is strongest in segments, like personal care, where brand perception is most important. Packaging is one of the first parts of a product consumer see and touch, making it a key tool for relaying green commitments, and a particular priority for clean beauty lines.
 
Most consumers equate sustainability with recyclability. Switching from plastic to a paperboard or other fibre-based solutions is one of the most demonstrable changes a brand can make. The potential for this in all packaging sectors is examined in a new market study – The Future of Paper vs Plastic Packaging markets to 2028  – from Smithers, the leading consultancy for the paper, print, and packaging industries.
 
This report authoritatively ranks the top 25 packaging applications where a transition from plastic to paper has great potential, commercially and technically. In this exclusive content for Beauty Packaging, Smithers shares the following insights:
 

• The role of packaging as a touchpoint for brand values is arguably highest in e-commerce sales. These are projected to account for 25% of the market worldwide in 2025. Innovative die cut boxes have been central to the business model of digital native brands, such as Ipsy or Birch Box. In 2023, total value of e-commerce personal care packaging will reach $4.74 billion.


• In e-commerce, improvements can be made for smaller cosmetic items, that are typically shipped in lightweight flexible polyethylene bags or paper-plastic padded mailers. Several papermakers have launched premium kraft paper grades with water-resistant coatings specifically for e-commerce shipment. For glass fragrance bottles or other fragile shipments, there are now fully fibre-based mailers. As both the outer and internal cushioning layer are made from paper, they can be home recycled by the recipient.


• There is interest in developing moulded fibre bottles for personal care products. L’Oreal has trialled these, via a collaboration with Paboco. Internal barrier performance remains difficult, without an internal layer of conventional plastic, however. Paboco’s latest R&D is to develop internal functional linings made from biodegradable polyethylene furanoate (PEF).


• Blister packs – formed of a clear plastic shell affixed to a paper base – were once common for smaller cometic items. Some paperboard manufacturers have created innovative board designs with aperture windows, and smart cardboard engineered locking and opening systems for product visibility; but many of these products can be moved out of any secondary packaging, with no major sales impact.

 
About the Author
John Nelson is an award-winning editor and journalist working in the market reports and consultancy business of Smithers, where he covers market and technology developments across multiple technical and commercial segments. He is a frequent contributor to Beauty Packaging. Read his previous contribution: “A Refill Revolution in Personal Care.”