Plastic Packaging Reigns Supreme in the Personal Care Market

Plastic packaging is dominating the personal care market, with 61% market share, bottles, jars, compacts and tubes for cosmetics and other personal care products are in high demand. Plastic will keep its crown for the foreseeable future, with an expected 12% growth by 2019. Bottles are the most commonly used container, accounting for 30% of the market and are expected to grow 28% through 2019.

Fun Facts

• Cartons have seen the most growth since 2010, increasing from 9% of the market to 19%
• Plastic is the most popular packaging material by far and is expected to grow 12% by 2019
• About two-thirds of personal care products come in liquid form, while 20% come as semi-solids, solids and powder

Seeing as a lot of packages for health and beauty products need to be break-resistant and/or portable, the demand for plastic isn't a shock to the system. By 2019, this ever expanding market is projected to be worth $38.1 billion, with developing nations such as Latin America and Asia-Pacific seeing higher growth rates than developed countries. As of now, the U.S alone represents about one-sixth of the worldwide total, spending an estimated $4 to $5.1 billion each year on beauty and personal products.

These figures come from the 'Personal Care Market Assessment' report by PMMI and identifies the top five global trends and challenges in the personal care market:

• Sustainability: brands are looking to reduce the amount of material and replace plastic with biopolymers to help improve their eco footprint
• Consumer needs & expectations: smaller and/or portable packages, as well as wipes, answer some of the consumer demand for convenience
• Innovation in efficiencies: automation and smart packaging equipment can help control production costs
• Flexibility: packaging lines need to be able to changeover quickly and easily to handle multiple packaging formats
• Globalisation: as more consumers around the globe enjoy the luxury of having more disposable income, spending on personal care products is expected to increase

The future looks bright for the plastic packaging market and we look forward to growing with it as a company.