2010’s Top 10 Packaging Industry News

1. Soy sauce manufacturers adopt pouches that keep soy sauce even fresher.

Soy sauce manufacturers have been introducing pouches with better preservation that prevents oxidization and maintains soy sauce freshness for a long time, even at room temperature. Products that can preserve soy sauce freshness for a long-time, even after opening the soy sauce, entered the market in quick succession.

2. Manufacturers accelerate offshore production of main products as the yen’s historical rise against the dollar continues.

Due to credit uncertainty in PIIGS of Europe since the beginning of 2010 as well as competitive devaluation and easy-money competition such as FRB’s second easy-money policy, the decline of the dollar seems endless. Strong yen, high tariffs, corporate taxes, and regulations have been making manufacturers leave Japan at an accelerated rate. The domestic packaging industry urgently faces the need to address this situation.

3. Carbon footprint (CFP) system trial project and marketing CFP mark products start.

At the end of 2009, a trial project for promoting the CFP system started and the Product Category Rule (PCR) Committee approved rules concerning packaging and distribution. Consequently, companies began to introduce products displaying the CFP mark one after another. ISO-based international standardization of packages has also been in progress. It is desirable that, in the future, all products should display the CFP mark based on visualizing CO2, which is the original purpose of the CFP system.

4. 3D trademark of plastic containers approved

Registration of plastic Yakult (beverage product) containers as a 3D trademark was approved. Yakult accounts for more than 40% of the market of lactic acid bacteria beverage, and the shape of its containers have not changed since 1968. Anyone can distinguish Yakult from other products by shape alone. Therefore, the Japan Patent Office judged that its containers are distinctive enough for patent registration. Such a registration approval―an approval by which a container shape, not a logo, is registered as a patent―is the second case following Coca-Cola bottles.

5. Abnormal weather exacts heavy toll on daily foods and packaging material consumption.

Abnormal weather reduced farm and marine production, damaging the packaging industry significantly. The heat wave delayed vegetable growth and reduced catch quotas, fish catches and fish farming output, in turn triggering high prices and low production/shipping volumes of vegetables and marine products. As a result, people’s diets were greatly affected. At the same time, the consumption of packaging materials such as corrugated cardboard was also damaged seriously.

6. Used PET bottles increasingly flow overseas.

In principle, under the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law, registered contractors are supposed to collect and dispose of used PET bottles domestically. Currently, however, exports to foreign countries, mainly China, account for approximately 40% of Japan’s PET-bottle beverage sales. This may make it difficult to maintain the current domestic recycling system and endanger the domestic circulation of PET bottles.

7. PET bottles made of plant-based materials are distributed for the first time.

A soft drink maker developed PET bottles made of plant-derived materials for the first time in Japan. The bottles use a maximum of 30% PET resin components converted from syrup (molasses), which is a by-product when sugar is purified from sugar cane.

8. TC122 (Packaging) and SC4 (Packaging and environment) were established in the ISO.

A proposal calling for ISO-based standardization of environmentally conscious packaging, a proposal made at the initiative of Japan as an environmentally-advanced country in Asia, was approved. The establishment of WGs 1-7 under SC4 (Packaging and environment subcommittee) was decided. On the basis of the European Norm (EN) and the Asian Guidelines, the proposal will be further discussed at the SC4 meetings and the seven WGs meetings. Environmentally conscious packaging is scheduled to be standardized by the ISO in approximately two to three years.

9. DLC-coated PET bottles are used for wine.

A wine company, together with a brewery company, has adopted 1.5 liter high-barrier bottles for wine. They are PET bottles whose inside surface is coated with diamond-like carbon (DLC). Since the oxygen transmission rate of these bottles is minimized, they can maintain wine quality like wine bottles made from glass for about one and a half years. Another appealing point for consumers is their convenience: light, unbreakable, and easy to dispose of.

10. Tokyo Pack 2010 was held successfully.

Tokyo Pack 2010 was held during the four days from October 5 to 8 with the Japan Packaging Institute as a sponsor. It was a comprehensive and the largest-scale packaging exhibition in Asia; the theme was “Keys to Success Lie in Packaging.” During the four days, 551 companies and groups, including 91 companies and groups from overseas, participated as exhibitors, while 170,859 visitors attended.

Selected & reported by the Institute of Packaging Professionals, Japan