Posted: Tuesday, January 24, 2012 12:10 pm

According to Packaging (Metals & Aerosols), a new Market Report from market intelligence providers Key Note, the UK metal packaging market was worth an estimated £1.82bn in 2011, an increase of 1.6% on 2010. Despite tough competition from other materials within the packaging market, the market for metal packaging has continued to grow.

In light of the importance of environmental concerns within the packaging industry, Key Note attributes the sector's success to metal's advantage over other packaging materials, in terms of recyclability. Both EU directives and UK legislation requires the industry to recover, recycle and reuse a constantly increasing amount of material; Both steel and aluminium, the main materials in the metal packaging industry, can be recycled without any loss of their inherent physical properties.

It is also advantageous for metal packaging companies to use recycled materials in the production of new primary material, as mining or purchasing new materials is expensive, both in terms of material cost and energy expenditure. Because of this, say Key Note, the metal packaging industry has a more developed recycling infrastructure than other areas of the market.

Despite metal packaging’s environmental credentials, the material has recently been losing market share to the more versatile plastic packaging, particularly in the food market and certain sectors of the beverage market, Key Note reports. Plastics are seen as a more convenient material, which can be microwaveable and flexible, and can provide superior aesthetical features, an important consideration for end-user markets.

Metals packaging companies have, however, introduced their own microwaveable food trays and have recently introduced a number of products into new market sectors. In the last few years, a number of metal packaging companies have introduced a range of wine cans into the alcoholic beverage market in order to target younger drinkers at festivals or other outdoor events.

With continued economic uncertainty and rising energy prices, Key Note forecasts that the UK metal packaging market will experience subdued growth in the next few years, with more significant growth expected by around 2014.