Plastic bottles and jars are forecast to experience strongest growth in the European larger packaging sector to 2015 and are likely to overtake glass containers within a decade, says a report by research company Pira International.

The report – The Future of European Food and Drink Packaging to 2015 – predicts that the use of plastic bottles, and particularly polyethylene terephthalate (PET) containers, is set to accelerate between now and 2020, by which time they will have overtaken glass.

Pira International’s research covers 12 European countries and regions, including the major Western European markets, Scandinavia and Eastern European countries, as well as Turkey. The company reported that bottles made from plastic added almost 12 billion units to annual volumes between 2005 and 2010 and look set to add 17 billion units by 2015, thus building up a compound annual growth rate that would consistently exceed 3%. ‘They will still rank fifth, but look poised to overtake glass bottles and jars by 2020,’ said the report.

The study identifies PET as the most widely used and fastest growing polymer for plastic jars and bottles on the back of its increasing use as a replacement for other pack types, particularly in the beverage sector. The trend is set to persist, with PET bottles continuing to replace glass bottles for carbonated soft drinks, mineral water and milk, while plastic jars and bottles will replace a growing number of glass jars for food products, said Pira.

The report cited properties such as clarity, unbreakability, design flexibility, light weight, recyclability and economical production as having contributed to PET bottle growth in comparison with competing materials.

It also highlights improvements in gas barrier properties and UV light protection to extend the shelf-life of PET packaged products as a growth driver. Further opportunities for growth are also being pursued in new hot filling processes for PET packaging of pasta, sauces, fruit juices, sports and energy drinks and beer.

The glass bottle and jar sector will also come under pressure from cans between 2015 and 2020, said Pira.

The Future of European Food and Drink Packaging to 2015 is now available from Pira International.