Flexible Packaging in North America Faces Its Defining Decade
- Published: June 5, 2026, By Trevor
By Adam Page, VP Reports at Smithers
Flexible packaging was on a strong growth trajectory, driven by consumer demand and shelf appeal, but mounting pressure over recyclability and stricter regulations is forcing a fundamental rethink. Now, a new wave of mono-materials and barrier coatings are emerging.
Market Forecast
The North American flexible packaging market reached $49.2 billion in 2025 and is forecast to grow at CAGR of 2.7% to $56.2 billion by 2030, according to a new Smithers report The Future of Global Flexible Packaging to 2030.1Polyethylene (PE) is the most widely used substrate, which benefits from the drive towards mono material flexible packaging.
Global consumer flexible packaging: percentage share of consumptions by material, 2025
Source: The Future of Global Flexible Packaging to 2030, Smithers
Growth in flexible packaging has been driven by greater design flexibility and the significant reductions in packaging weight and costs that they offer over traditional packaging formats such as glass bottles and jars and metal cans. Flexible packaging has also taken share from rigid packaging in several applications such as soups and rice due to its versatility and lighter weight.
However, many flexible plastic film constructions are not currently widely recycled, especially multi-layer films comprising several different materials, and there is growing regulatory pressure and mounting consumer concerns across the world on the environmental impacts of waste packaging. Despite the acknowledged benefits of flexible plastic packaging in preserving foods, extending their shelf life, and lighter weight compared with alternatives like glass and metal, single-use flexible packaging is under intense scrutiny from regulatory authorities and consumers around the world due to its poor sustainability record.
Laminated multi-layer flexible plastic packaging, which can comprise several different types of polymer films, metallic foils, and paper, are not currently widely recycled. In addition, the infrastructure for collection of waste flexible plastic packaging is very fragmented. Although flexible plastic accounts for more than 25% of consumer plastic packaging globally, it is estimated that the average global rate of recycling flexible plastic packaging waste each year is around 5%, and 1% or less in developing economies. The remaining 95% plus goes to landfill, incineration, or is left to pollute either the land or the oceans.
Flexible packaging formats such as stand-up pouches have challenged rigid packaging in several applications (including ready meals, soups, rice and sauces) because of key performance attributes.
The Future of Global Flexible Packaging to 2030
EPR in the US is gaining momentum, with seven US states having passed EPR laws for packaging (California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington), and two additional states (New Hampshire and Wisconsin) introducing EPR legislation so far in 2026. Each state’s approach is unique, treating films and flexibles inconsistently – for example, Oregon allows producers more latitude through alternative collection pathways, while California takes a harder line, with non-compliant packaging facing a ban by 2032.
In response, the flexible packaging industry has taken on three key approaches to improve the sustainability profile of plastic films:
- Mono-layer films that can provide the protective properties of the complex multi-layer films. Much of the development focus has been on polyolefin films and on the exploiting the properties from the orientation during film manufacture: either monoaxial orientation (MDO-PE or OPP) by stretching in one direction; –– or biaxial orientation (BOPE, BOPP or BOPET) by stretching in both directions simultaneously.
- Multi-layer films based on a single polymer type, or a combination of polymers in the same chemical family; for example, a multi-layer film based on polyethylene and polypropylene can be recycled in mixed polyolefin waste streams.
- Packaging films based on biopolymers, preferably those that are biodegradable such as PHA and PBAT (polybutylene adipate terephthalate). The biopolymer PLA is being used in a growing number of applications, but it is only compostable in industrial processes and will not biodegrade or break down in domestic composting.
These new mono-material films often require high-performance barrier coatings to meet the performance levels of the multi-material films, and this is driving significant development in new flexible packaging coatings. As seen in the latest Smithers report The Future of Packaging Coatings to 2031, flexible packaging is the largest packaging type segment in the global packaging coatings space with global demand of 2.1 million tonnes making up 31.6% of the global volume in 2025, with a value of $4.7 billion.
Global Packaging Coatings Market, 2023-2031 (‘000 Tonnes)
2023; 2024; 2025; 2026; 2031
Source: The Future of Packaging Coatings to 2031, Smithers
PVdC is one area where a significant change is happening in coatings. PVdC combines excellent oxygen barrier properties and high moisture resistance, and is used for packaging processed meats, cheese, and snacks, as well as blister packs for pharma. Although PVdC coatings provide highly effective barriers to packaging materials, their use is under growing scrutiny over concerns on the environmental impacts from their disposal after use, particularly within the food industry. They can cause difficulties in repulping processes for board and paper. As a result, some packaging suppliers and brand owners are eliminating PVdC barrier coatings from their packaging materials to improve their sustainability credentials. Next generation flexible packaging barrier coatings will be critical to achieve the performance levels required by the food and other industries.
An alternative to flexible plastic packaging is to replace it with flexible papers. Flexible paper packaging already accounts for nearly 8% of the flexible packaging market but many of the products being used have barrier layers of laminating polymer films or aluminium foil. Flexible packaging paper is used for a wide range of foodstuffs, such as sugar, flour, dairy fats, margarine, ice cream, confectionery, dried foods and snacks, and baked goods. However, the more demanding the end application, the fewer the options currently available for paper packaging. Flexible paper packaging has three main technical challenges: barrier properties, puncture resistance and processability. Flexible paper packaging needs to overcome these if it is to take more share from plastic.
The challenge to extend the use of flexible paper packaging as a replacement for flexible plastic is to replicate the latter’s barrier properties, while retaining paper’s ease of recycling.
The Future of Packaging Coatings to 2031
Although regulatory landscape and brand owner requirements are shifting rapidly, the flexible packaging industry is not sitting still – we are seeing many new exciting developments ranging from sustainable barrier coatings to mono material formats.
Success requires a much deeper understanding of specific niches and specific end-use application requirements. The most successful companies have become experts at identifying and assessing these hidden opportunities, and then executing.
References
About the Author
Adam is VP Reports at Smithers, the worldwide authority for the printing, paper and packaging industries, with overall responsibility for its market reports business. In 2025, he launched the new Smithers Market Intelligence Platform which provides all reports and data in one fully searchable solution, and which is fully secure and accessible anytime, anywhere. Visit: https://www.smithers.com