The leading international trade fair for the packaging industry – "Interpack" – has just come to an end and was, for people who also visited “K”, something of a déjà vu. It is not just that Düsseldorf / Germany is the location for both exhibitions, both of which are held every three years, and both of which are also the world's number one in their particular industry. At Interpack (8 –14 May 2014; www.interpack.com), too, plastics dominated the scene for a whole week – at least in Halls 7–10. "What the trade K fair is for plastics, Interpack is for packaging," said Interpack spokeswoman, Eva Rugenstein. This year's Interpack attracted more than 175,000 visitors. Three years ago, the number was 166,000. The proportion of foreign visitors was 66%, which is not only a record for Interpack, but also a record for all the events organised by Messe Düsseldorf. At some companies, the crowds were said to be so big that the stands reached their capacity limits.

And plastics were the material of choice in Düsseldorf. There is no other material that is so simple, so colourful, so flexible, so "exciting", as one American was heard to say. “With no other material are there so many different approaches for such varied fields of application.” Whether it is a case of high heat resistance in ovens (where C-PET trays are about to replace the usual aluminium trays for ready-to-serve meals – see Plasteurope.com of 20.05.2014), or perhaps even little eye shadow tins with a tiny display to watch the "How do I make myself up correctly" video, or various comparatively trivial items like drink pouches in the form of soccer jerseys, and chocolate Easter bunnies packaged in thermoformed polypropylene, which serves as both mould and packaging at the same time.

In Germany, plastics are also the only group of packaging materials that has grown in terms of both volume and turnover last year. Glass also rose in value terms compared with 2012, but remained stable in terms of volume. Metals, paper and cardboard declined on both counts, in some cases quite considerably. Overall, the German packaging market is worth EUR 32.1 bn, reports the central association of German Packaging Manufacturers (GADV). This is an increase of 1% compared with the previous year, and is attributable primarily to plastics.

The German packaging market is developing hand in hand with the international market, says the market research company, Smithers Pira (Leatherhead / UK; www.smitherspira.com) in its latest study entitled "The Future of Global Packaging". In its forecast up to 2018, plastics will also grow the fastest and will lead the field ahead of paper, glass and metal (see Plasteurope.com of 19.05.2014).

On the last-but-one day of the show, the German Association for Plastic Packagings and Films (IK, Bad Homburg; www.kunststoffverpackungen.de) and the French Plastic and Flexible Packaging Association (Elipso, Paris; www.elipso.org) presented for the first time the "PackTheFuture" Award. Elipso boss Dominique Paul and EuPC President Bernhard Borgardt eloquently praised twelve companies for their new developments.

Whereas ever more sophisticated packaging solutions are being devised and the properties of plastics are placing virtually no limitations on their implementation, the "Save Food" initiative is setting out to do almost the opposite: to extend shelf life with as little material as possible and through simple application. The aim is to reduce the 1.3 bn t of food that is thrown away every year or simply goes bad. The cooperation between Messe Düsseldorf and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which was founded at Interpack in 2011, aims to sensitise people in developing countries to packaging. It also wants to make manufacturers aware of the need for practicable and inexpensive packaging, and even prepare developing regions like Africa for their position as future sales markets. The precise objective was not made entirely clear during the many presentations at the Congress. "It is not that we simply want to use more packaging; what we want is to use suitable basic technologies to ensure that less food is lost on the way from the fields to the consumer," said Interpack Director Bernd Jablonowski. Extending the shelf life of food through suitable packaging was quite right, explained WWF expert Bernhard Bauske, "but it is important to look at what becomes of the resultant quantities of waste: Packaging producers and packaging users must assume responsibility to ensure that not so much plastic waste ends up in the environment."