Packaging for pets: Humanization trend drives premium, responsible and convenient formats

03 Apr 2024 --- The pet food packaging market is booming, driven by pet owners increasingly considering their furry (or feathery) companions as family, according to industry experts. This so-called “humanization” trend translates into a demand for premium pet products, including food, treats, toys and all the packaging that comes with them.

Pet food packaging trends are mainly dictated by this humanization and single-serve formats, according to Luca Carollo, Clevertech’s business development manager. “The humanization of pet food is bringing several changes in primary and secondary packaging — let us think about the tons of different packages we are handling for different pet food flavors,” he tells Packaging Insights.

Eric Valette, business unit innovation director at Coveris, adds that the humanization of pets is an ongoing trend, which results in pet owners paying special attention to the quality of their four-legged family members’ food. “Combined with the growing number of pet owners in Europe during the pandemic, it explains why this market is resilient during a crisis period and keeps steadily growing,” he says.

According to Carollo, there is also a “strong push” for monomaterial, fully recyclable and retortable packaging “where, as Clevertech and Smart Packaging Hub, we have tremendous innovation to propose to our customers.” 

“Single-serve primary packages is the other trend in pet food — we have seen the market stepping from 20 kg bags to 85 g or even 50 g pouches, considering the increase in production volume, the fragmentation of the packages for size brings the production lines speed to a very fast line,” he adds. 

Urbanization and e-commerce
Regarding cross-regional differences in pet food packaging demand, Carollo says that the European market is the most receptive place where new packages are developed and fairly easy to introduce, whereas “the North American markets are mainly predominant for cans but are also accepting rigid side wall containers as a split cap.”Coveris’ premium pet food packaging (Image credit: Coveris).

Valette at Coveris highlights that during the pandemic, the UK market saw a 57% increase in dog ownership due to the rising trend of dog adoption as a companion for families. “European customers also tend to choose to feed their pets premium food. Since these pet owners are mostly located in big cities, rapid urbanization is among the key factors driving the market,” he explains.

This trend is largely driven by Gen Z and Millennials, representing 59% of new owners who are aware of the environmental impact of packaging waste and prefer bigger and recyclable size packs, says Coveris’ business unit innovation director.

“In combination with the e-commerce growth in Europe, where 75% of people buy primarily online, this created a demand for new bag sizes and formats, which we answered. We can offer a variety of MonoFlex bags from 1–20 kilograms, from flat bottom to quadroseal bags, both form-fill-seal and pre-made, as well as stand-up pouches.”

Meanwhile, a Graphic Packaging International (GPI) spokesperson tells Packaging Insights that more and more pet supplies are purchased online. “Packaging needs to be designed to withstand the rigors of shipping, avoiding damage and ensuring a good customer experience while using a minimum of materials,” they say.

According to Valette, the fastest growth for pet food packaging innovation is in Central and Eastern Europe, where sales experience a 9% CAGR (2021–2023), compared to a 5.6% CAGR globally in the same period. 

The GPI spokesperson tells us that the big drivers for the industry’s growth are pet ownership, premiumization of pet food and the importance of convenience and functionality, which are likely consistent across the US.

Sustainability and convenience
Another trend is sustainability. “Pet food producers are looking to satisfy their product demands and meet environmental and government laws to limit waste,” says Coveris’ Valette. “Our MonoFlex family of fully recyclable bags and films is the perfect answer to the global packaging waste evolution.”

The GPI spokesperson agrees, declaring that “sustainability is king.” Clevertech’s latest system was made for palletizing filled split cups for pet food packs (Image credit: Clevertech).

“Just like with their own food, pet owners are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of packaging for pet care products. This demand means focusing on the reduced use of non-renewable materials (particularly those that are hard to recycle such as flexible plastic), recyclable or compostable packaging materials and materials that contain recycled content.”

Furthermore, they identify convenience as “key.”

“Busy pet parents appreciate features that make their lives easier. This might include resealable containers, easy-open and easy-pour cartons and integrated handles,” says GPI.

Latest industry innovations
The latest addition to Clevertech’s portfolio is a system the packaging automation giant delivered to the US for palletizing and depalletizing filled split cups for pet food packages to be loaded in half plastic trays. 

“Beside the amazing automation and technology we used to reach the fantastic production speed of 5.5 layers per minute at 840 cpm with a very unstable product never handled before, what brought Clevertech to another level is the complete study, R&D of the tray drawing which has been entirely developed by Clevertech,” says Carollo.

Meanwhile, Valette says Coveris has seen a strong demand to switch to fully recyclable plastic packaging, while the company has extended its range of MonoFlex packaging solutions. “We satisfy the changing size and material needs and maintain the same benefits as other structures to allow easy opening and resealing for extended freshness,” he says. 

Consumers increasingly demand paper-based pet food options (Image credit: GPI).“We have been updating our MonoFlex bags range since their launch in 2020 to offer a variety of reclosable systems such as top zip, top hook and loop, front or top pocket zipper.”

Overcoming paper challenges
Coveris has supported various clients in changing their standard bag range to fully recyclable monomaterial solutions. Examples include Irish Dog Foods, C&D, Ultra Premium Direct and Demavic. 

“Some customers are also considering paper packaging solutions but do not want to lose the freshness and preservation of kibbles achieved with plastic packaging. For those customers, we can offer advanced monopaper structures that meet their brands’ sustainable goals,” says Valette.

GPI’s efforts in the pet food packaging market have been focused on developing new multipack formats to replace plastic rings and shrink film, asserts the spokesperson. “As inflationary pressures continue to bite and time-restricted consumers seek easier ways of shopping, multipack formats — particularly larger configurations — are increasingly popular, but consumers want these formats without plastic,” they say.

“Paperboard multipack solutions include clip-style formats for cans and PET bottles (for example, small bottles of cat milk), and EnviroClip is our latest development in this range. Using the least amount of paperboard of any multipack format and free of glue and plastic laminations, it offers an effective, convenient and easily recyclable option for a wide variety of primary pack sizes and configurations.”

By Natalie Schwertheim