Flexible Packaging Film Trends: Active Freshness, Coextrusion and Degradable Materials

Active Freshness Film

An Australian company has successfully created an active plastic packaging film designed for perishable items such as fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers. It can keep these products fresh for several weeks, offering a stronger answer to the challenge of long-distance transport. The film works as a breathable material: carbon dioxide and oxygen generated inside can pass through, helping the perishable contents remain in a sleep-like state. Impregnated with organic chemicals, the film absorbs ethylene, the gas that accelerates ripening in fruit and vegetables, while maintaining moisture around the products. Because it also contains a tiny amount of slow-release fungicide, mold growth can be inhibited. As a result, packaged produce can enjoy an extended freshness window.

Competition in plastic films continues to intensify, with greater emphasis placed on improved shrinkage performance and lower costs; many companies have introduced polystyrene resins with better properties. Shrink films made from feedstocks such as corn are now available, and they offer strong environmental and recycling advantages. In addition, low-shrink

films also command a sizable market because they can be readily integrated into companies' existing recycling systems. Heat-shrink film labels have recently gained strong popularity in consumer goods packaging,

and such films account for a considerable share of the market.

Coextruded film represents the newest technological direction in packaging films. Using conventional inks and coatings, it combines high barrier performance, good transparency, heat sealability and flexible layout printing, and it can also serve as a plasma coating material. The growth of coextruded packaging film will reshape the product mix of multifunctional films and is suitable for food packaging such as beverages, milk and fresh meat. In developed countries, coextruded packaging film accounts for about

%, while China accounts for only

This film is produced from natural edible substances, including polysaccharides and proteins, and forms a porous network structure through interactions among different molecules. It can be used for the inner packaging of various ready-to-eat foods and has significant market potential in the food sector.

This type of film mainly tackles the conflict surrounding certain non-degradable packaging materials: they are difficult to recycle, burying them damages soil structure, and incineration releases toxic gases that pollute the air. Degradable plastic packaging film retains the functions and properties of conventional plastics while being able to break down in the natural environment after its service life, through microorganisms in soil and water or ultraviolet light from the sun. Applications of degradable plastic products in packaging already span ordinary packaging films, shrink films, shopping bags and garbage bags, contributing positively to environmental improvement.

Water-soluble plastic packaging film, a relatively new green packaging material, is widely used for packaging various products in Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries. Thanks to environmental features such as thorough degradation and safe, convenient use, water-soluble film has drawn attention from developed countries worldwide. At present, such products are mainly manufactured and sold by companies in Japan, the United States, France and other countries abroad; domestic enterprises have also begun production, and their products are moving into the market.

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