Is plastic packaging consumption increasing exponentially?

Plastic packaging usage is not exponentially increasing.

The amount of plastic packaging in the UK waste stream has been decreasing for a number of years, reducing from 2080 kilotonnes in 2006 to 2018 kilontonnes by 2020. If you take the overall amount of plastic packaging waste produced and divide it by the population, that equates to a 13% reduction in the amount of plastic waste per person. [1]

In 2020, the coronavirus had a huge impact on overall packaging consumption, creating a somewhat complex picture. Put simply, demand for some packaging increased while in other areas it plummeted. Demand in the hospitality, building and certain manufacturing sectors was severely diminished for an extended period of time, for example.

During periods in which people work from home or are discouraged from leaving their homes, they are likely to use slightly more packaging at home than they did previously. But the huge drop in demand from other sectors, coupled with innovations that reduce the amount of material a packaging product requires, means that the amount of plastic packaging placed on the market in 2020 significantly decreased (see chart). [2]

Plastic Packaging Projected Placed On The Market (tonnes)

Source: Valpak PackFlow Covid-19 Phase II, 2020

 

 

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