With the new year approaching, it is a good time to start focus on 2022 packaging trends. The way you package your products contributes to the long term success of your business, so it is a good idea to identify the newest trends and follow them.
This article explores five packaging trends that will dominate in 2022, and in future years as well.
1. Pandemic Prepared Certification for Packaging Lines and Supply Chains
With fall approaching, businesses are taking a look at what effect the COVID-19 pandemic will have over the medium to long term. With new variants and hotspot cases continuing to be prevalent, safety is an important concern for many businesses and their supply chain.
A way to reduce the effects of the pandemic on packaging lines is by becoming pandemic prepared certified. AIB International, formerly the American Institute for Baking, which was founded in 1919 to “put science to work for bakers” and has set standards for quality and safety, has created a certification that addresses the five key issues found during pandemics:
The certification given by AIB International demonstrates to employees and customers that your company is committed to implementing and maintaining safety measures that reduce COVID-19 risks.
2. Pandemic Safe Packaging
In the past year, health and safety has been top of the mind for businesses. This has made protective packaging and tamper evident packaging gain popularity with food and other consumer goods manufacturing companies.
These materials allow for companies to place an emphasis on their commitment to safety, as consumers can see if the products they purchased have been tampered with or damaged in any way. These tamper evident packaging materials include items such as lidding films, blister packs, seal bands, and flexible pouches.
Another trend on the rise due to COVID-19 is automated packaging. This is used by companies that want to keep their packaging line in-house, but also want to ensure a COVID safe operation.
An automated packaging line will have fewer people in the warehouse, which will result in an optimized packaging line while preventing the spread of illness. It can also improve quality, increase production, and help keep your employees and products throughout the supply chain safe.
3. Sustainability
Another trending packaging design is sustainability. A lot of packaging eventually ends up in a landfill, and your customers are aware of this fact. Customers don’t want to contribute to landfills by buying products with wasteful packaging, which is why it is important to make the switch to sustainable packaging alternatives.
Businesses all around the world are making efforts towards sustainability, and one of their strategies is to stop using non-recycle plastic in their packaging. If you use non-recyclable plastic in your packaging, it is time to start looking for an alternative. Plastic packaging immediately goes into landfills, and stays there for potentially centuries because it doesn’t biodegrade. In the past few years, people have been refraining from buying products in plastic packaging, so you may find it difficult to increase sales volume if you are still using plastic packaging.
With a bit of research, you will find many alternatives to plastic and what benefits they have over plastic. There are many plastic alternatives that are still cost effective to use in packaging, one of which is paperboard. Paperboard is a thick paper based material with many benefits, such as being foldable and rigid. Chipboard in particular, which is a type of paperboard, is a great alternative as it is made from 100% recycled material and is 100% recyclable.
4. Flexible Packaging
Flexible packaging is a type of packaging in which the shape can be bent, folded, or manipulated easily. It is typically made of materials such as various plastics, foils, and paperboard. The most popular forms of flexible packaging include poly bags, roll bags, carded packaging, shrink film, flexible pouches, and stretch film.
The popularity of flexible packaging is on the rise. It is replacing more costly and less environmentally friendly types of packaging. It has a lower carbon footprint and costs less than rigid forms of packaging. These qualities make it more appealing to consumers worldwide.
5. Minimalist Packaging
Minimalist packaging uses the least amount of material, ink, text, and space as possible. It appeals to consumers who are often overwhelmed with the variety of bright colours, big logos, and other packaging designs made to grab your attention. There is a major “I want to get back-to-the-earth” mentality in many consumers and simple brown chipboard packaging with one or two colour print often resonates much more with them rather than white packaging with multiple colour print.
The contrast between the minimalist packaging and packaging with bright colours and other attention grabbing techniques is what makes it stand out. This regression back to simplicity allows for brands to stand out without using many materials, printing, textures, and other popular attention grabbing marketing techniques.
Minimalism is used to have simplicity in your product packaging. The design should be uncluttered and easy to look at. One of the best ways to have minimalist package design is to use high contrast elements on top of simple backdrops. Another method is to choose one aspect of your brand story and use that as a recurring theme throughout the packaging. These themes can include sustainability, giving back to communities in need, quality ingredients, or history of the business.
Hammond Paper
Operating out of Vaughan, Ontario, Hammond Paper Company has been a reliable source for environmentally friendly paperboard and protective packaging solutions in Canada for over 25 years. We believe that everyone should do what they can to protecting the environment and our fragile ecosystem.
Whether you need custom cardboard, other paperboard products or packaging, or just off-the-shelf protective packaging supplies like slip sheets, dividers, layer pads, corner posts or even pallet wrap, Hammond Paper can help in an environmentally sustainable way.
Contact us anytime at (905) 761-6867 or info@hammondpaper.com to talk about how we can help you, and the planet.