THE metal packaging industry is poised for growth and is on the cusp of an exciting era as efforts to introduce new technology and improve this packaging material’s environmental credentials are starting to bear fruit.
That was the message from Kishan Singh, Chief Executive Officer of MetPac-SA, delivered at the Australian Institute of Packaging’s (AIP) biennial National Conference held recently in Queensland.
Singh was one of the 40 international and national experts who were invited to represent the global food, beverage, manufacturing and packaging industries, and use the opportunity to introduce the international audience to the mission and vision of MetPac-SA, the Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) representing the steel, tinplate and aluminium packaging industries in South Africa.
Presenting his paper on global packaging trends, Singh predicted an unprecedented demand for metal and aluminium cans in the years to come. “As the global population continues to grow, so too will the demand increase for packaging that is convenient, prevents food wastage, eases supply chain stresses, but is also recyclable and sustainable. Metal packaging ticks all these boxes,” he said.
Metal packaging equates for 9.2% of the South African packaging market value, which totals approximately R65 billion and 7% of the approximately 3,3 million tons of market volume (ex-converter) in 2016. Whilst seemingly small compared to some of the other packaging streams, MetPac-SA predicts that metal packaging is poised to grow its market share owing to its excellent recovery rate.
“Metal packaging is infinitely recyclable because of its metallurgical chemistry, composed of Iron (Fe) or Aluminium (Al) atoms. When used steel or aluminium cans are recycled, these atoms are reconstituted into their original atomic arrangements, completely renewing the material for use again. It is this criterion, amongst many others, that will continue to hold metal as an extremely viable packaging material into the future. South Africa has one of the highest recovery rates for used metal packaging in the world. We currently sit at around 73 %, up from 70 % in 2015 (BMI Research Report 2016), with plans to steadily increase our targets in excess of 75 % by the year 2021,” Singh said.
In an attempt to improve its green credentials, the industry has also made significant progress in recent years to reduce its environmental footprint by light-weighting its products. This has resulted in metal packaging becoming significantly more competitive and attractive for product designers.
Despite these breakthroughs, however, there are still some challenges being faced by the metal packaging industry in its quest to increase its recovery and recycling rates. These include:
• South Africa’s slow economic growth which results in lower packaging consumption
• Lack of separating recyclable materials at source / low collection and recycling awareness
• Limited access to landfills by waste pickers, resulting in them not getting access to materials
• Long distances between consumption and recycling infrastructure
“As an industry we are aware of these challenges but are working on finding workable solutions that will address these issues and improve the recyclability and recovery of metal packaging for years to come. To this end, our Industry Waste Management Plan is currently being drafted with the inputs from industry role players for submission later this year.”
Singh predicted that metal packaging will continue to grow its market share through continued innovation. The beverage sector in particular holds exciting opportunities for the sector.
“Metal packaging will adapt and accommodate to the requirements of the modern consumer, through shape, size, functionality and closure changes, and most importantly, by an unwavering industry quest for mass reduction without compromising packaging efficacy.
Current members of MetPac-SA include raw material supplier Hulamin, converters Nampak, PackSolve, Tin Can Man, Coleus and brand owners SAB (Pty) Ltd, Distell, Heineken, Coca-Cola and Nestlé.
For more information, visit www.metpacsa.org.za