The Future of Secondary and Protective Packaging to 2030

• The global market for secondary and protective packaging in 2025 is valued at $245.3 billion.
• Secondary and protective packaging is forecast to be resilient over the five-year period up to 2030, growing by 3.1% CAGR by weight.

Countries around the world are expected to adjust to the new trading environment over the next two years and the demand for secondary and protective packaging is forecast to be resilient over the five-year period, resulting in a market with a value of $300.7 billion by 2030. This report presents an overview of the current state of the industry and quantifies the market size by value and weight for the respective secondary and protective packaging types by segment and geography. 

In this report, Smithers author Keith Jacques discusses the secondary and protective packaging market and the forecast effect of the latest drivers and trends over the next five years. 

Secondary packaging is used to pack multiple primary packages to optimise the transportation and storage of products, whilst providing additional protection. Protective packaging comprises materials and systems designed to safeguard products from damage during storage, handling, and transportation. It can be incorporated into either primary or secondary packaging, the latter being the focus of this report.

Key questions

• How is secondary packaging is evolving from simply fulfilling functional roles? 
• What areas of protective packaging are observing a swap to paper-based materials? 
• How are producers balancing the drive for sustainability with the primary protective function? 
• What is the influence of regulations on material choice and disposal of secondary and protective packaging? 

Our expert

Keith Jacques has many years’ experience in carrying out market research projects on a wide range of topics across packaging, raw materials and coatings; backed up by over 40 years’ industry experience in a variety of roles in technical, sales and marketing and new business development.

• Introduction and methodology
• Introduction
• Report scope
• Report objectives  
• Methodology
• Data 
• Definitions 
• Packaging types     
  • Primary packaging 
  • Secondary packaging        
  • Protective packaging
  • Tertiary packaging
• Secondary packaging        
  • Corrugated board 
  • Cartonboard
  • Mailing envelopes 
  • Shrink and stretch wrap   
• Protective packaging
  • Bubble wrap
  • Air pillows  
  • Paper fill      
  • Foam
• End-use applications         
  • Consumer non-durable goods     
  • Consumer durable goods 
  • Industrial/Commercial      
  • e-Commerce
• Geographic segments        
• Abbreviations
• Key drivers and trends       
• Introduction
• Economic trends   
• Global trade tensions        
• Household consumption expenditure     
• Global manufacturing       
• Demographic changes      
• Population growth
• Urbanisation
• e-Commerce
• Regulations
• Extended Producer Responsibility
• EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation
• Other packaging regulation initiatives     
• Packaging and the circular economy       
• Packaging lifecycle 
• Cutting-edge technology developments
• Introduction
• Sustainability
• Corrugated board and paper         
• Plastic packaging 
• Bio-based packaging materials   
  • Mycelium packaging
• Refillable and repurposing packaging     
• Recycling processes
• Innovations in waste collection   
  • Europe          
  • USA
  • Asia
• Innovations in recycling processes
• Foam recycling processes
• Smart packaging   
• Automation 
• Innovations in packaging automation     
  • Robotics     
  • Digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI)         
  • Automation challenges     
• 3D printing for custom packaging
• Secondary and protective packaging markets by end-use sector         
• Introduction
• Consumer Non-durable Goods   
• Storage and transportation 
• Multipacks
• Retail-ready/shelf-ready packaging (RRP/SRP) 
• Consumer Durable Goods
• Industrial/Commercial      
• e-Commerce
• Ships in Product Packaging (SIPP) 
• Secondary and protective packaging markets by packaging material 
• Overview     
• Secondary packaging materials  
• Corrugated board 
  • The impact of PPWR on corrugated board packaging in Europe 
• Cartonboard
• Mailing envelopes 
• Shrink and stretch wrap   
• Protective packaging materials   
• Bubble wrap
• Air pillows  
  • Dunnage bags         
• Paper fill      
• Foam 
  • Biodegradation      
  • Foams from sustainable resources
  • Loose fill peanuts 
• Secondary and protective packaging markets by geography   
• Overview     
• Western Europe     
• France
• Germany     
• Italy
• Spain
• United Kingdom (UK) 
• Other Western Europe       
• Eastern Europe       
• Poland          
• Russia
• Other Eastern Europe         
• North America         
• Canada       
• Mexico          
• USA
• South & Central America  
• Brazil
• Other South & Central America   
• Asia-Pacific 
• China
• India
• Japan
• South Korea
• Australia     
• Other Asia-Pacific
• Middle East & Africa
• Türkiye          
• Other Middle East 
• Africa
• Outlook to 2030     
• Introduction
• Sustainability
• Waste management
• Automation 
• Smart packaging   

FIGURES

• Global secondary and protective packaging market, 2023–30 (volume & value)
• Global secondary and protective packaging usage by end-application, 2023–30 (million tonnes)   
• Global secondary and protective packaging usage by end-application, 2023–30 ($ billion) 
• Secondary and protective packaging share by packaging material, 2025 (‘000 tonnes)
• Secondary and protective packaging share by packaging material, 2025 ($ billion)
• Regional shares of secondary and protective packaging market, 2024 (‘000 tonnes)
• Regional shares of secondary and protective packaging market, 2024 ($ million)    
• Top 10 national secondary and protective packaging markets, 2025 (‘000 tonnes) 
• Examples of primary packaging  
• Examples of secondary packaging   
• Examples of protective packaging    
• Examples of tertiary packaging   
• Real GDP growth, selected regions (Annual percent change), 2019–30
• Global rate of inflation from 2018 to 2028 (CPI%)   
• Global inflation rates for food and energy, 2019–24
• Global household consumer spending ($ trillion), 2018–23
• Importance of locally owned companies in purchasing decisions in selected countries, Q1 vs Q2 2025, % of respondents 
• Estimated index of world manufacturing output, 2022 to 2024
• Estimated index of world manufacturing output by manufacturing industry, 2024  
• Change in global population from 2024 to 2100 (billions) 
• Share of urban population worldwide in 2025, by region    
• Growth in global e-commerce retail sales from 2021 to 2027 ($ trillion)  
• Global plastic waste per annum (million tonnes) 
• The butterfly diagram: visualising the circular economy  
• Packaging lifecycle   
• Ecovative mushroom-derived protective packaging
• Cat house from Samsung TV packaging
• Smart packaging printed with invisible security inks     
• Biodegradable vs conventional RFID tag  
• Automated handling on e-commerce distribution line
• Articulated robots for secondary packaging handling operations
• 3D printed protective packaging insert from ABS    
• Secondary and protective packaging share by end-use sector, 2024 (‘000 tonnes) 
• Examples of storage/transportation packaging for consumer non-durable goods   
• Shrink wrap for retail multipacks  
• Cartonboard secondary packaging for multipacks
• Customised secondary packaging for cosmetics   
• Nature Multipack using adhesive dots   
• Examples of retail-ready secondary packaging
• Corrugated board and foam packaging design for small appliance    
• Pulp inner protective trays for Apple iPhone
• Switch to EPS foam-free packaging for large domestic appliances  
• Automated stretch wrapping machine to secure primary packages on pallet   
• Example of heavy-duty packaging for industrial goods
• Customised packaging from corrugated board
• Pulp protective packaging for industrial components  
• Typical e-commerce packaging boxes and mailing envelopes    
• RapiSecure e-commerce box with integrated retention device   
• Secondary and protective packaging share by packaging material, 2024 (‘000 tonnes)
• Comparison of sheet packaging materials by estimated area, 2024 (billion square metres)     
• Different types of corrugated flutes  
• Corrugated board types for secondary packaging  
• Folding boxboard pulp composition of different layers  
• KeelClip paperboard fastening for multipacks 
• Protective Mailer with paper-padded interior lining 
• Paper bubble wrap 
• PaperWave and Plant Wave sustainable air pillows 
• Dunnage bag
• Examples of different forms of paper fills  
• Auto Hexafil automated dispenser for honeycomb paper fill
• The BioSphere biodegradation process 
• EcoFlo starch-based biodegradable loose fill peanuts    
• Regional shares of secondary and protective packaging market, 2024 (‘000 tonnes)
• Regional shares of secondary and protective packaging market, 2024 ($ million)    
• Regional shares of secondary and protective packaging market by end-use sector, 2024 ($ million)   
• Evolution of e-commerce sales in USA from 2018 to 2030
• American Chemical Council newspaper advertisement opposing New York packaging regulation 
• Top 10 global e-commerce markets, 2023 ($ billion)    
• Plastic waste in an informal site in India  
• Projected global municipal solid waste destinations – 2020, 2030, 2040, 2050 (billion tonnes) 
• Benefits of automation in packaging  
• Schematic of production process for RFID tag printed with Cyrene graphene conductive ink    

TABLES

• Trends in the global secondary and protective packaging market, 2025–30 
• Global population, by region, 2020–30 (millions) 
• The world’s top 10 online marketplaces
• Leading 10 e-commerce markets in the world  
• Board and paper recycling rates by region and selected countries (percent of waste generated)
• Technology trends in secondary and protective packaging, 2025 to 2030
• Global secondary and protective packaging market by end-use sector, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes) 
• Global secondary and protective packaging market by end-use sector, 2023–30 ($ million)   
• Consumer non-durables by packaging material, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million)
• Consumer durables by packaging material, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million) 
• Industrial/Commercial by packaging material, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million)    
• e-Commerce by packaging material, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million) 
• Global secondary and protective packaging market by packaging material, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million) 
• Corrugated board by end-use application, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million)
• Reuse targets - Targets and specific derogations  
• Cartonboard by end-use application, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million)
• Mailing envelopes by end-use application, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million) 
• Shrink/stretch wrap by end-use application, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million)
• Comparative specifications of shrink and stretch wrap films    
• Bubble wrap by end-use application, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million) 
• Air pillows by end-use application, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million)
• Paper fill by end-use application, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million) 
• Foam by end-use application, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million)
• Global secondary and protective packaging demand by geographic region, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million) 
• Western Europe secondary and protective packaging demand by country, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million) 
• Western Europe secondary and protective packaging demand by packaging materials, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million)     
• Western Europe, end-use sector by packaging material (‘000 tonnes and $ million)
• For each country:
• Secondary and protective packaging demand by end-use sector, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million) 
• List of countries:
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• Other Western Europe 
• Eastern Europe secondary and protective packaging demand by country, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million) 
• Eastern Europe secondary and protective packaging demand by packaging materials, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million)  
• Eastern Europe, end-use sector by packaging material (‘000 tonnes and $ million)
• For each country:
• Secondary and protective packaging demand by end-use sector, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million) 
• List of countries:
• Poland
• Russia
• Other Eastern Europe
• North America secondary and protective packaging demand by country, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million) 
• North America secondary and protective packaging demand by packaging materials, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million)     
• North America, end-use sector by packaging material (‘000 tonnes and $ million) 
• For each country:
• Secondary and protective packaging demand by end-use sector, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes) 
• List of countries:
• Canada
• Mexico
• USA
• South & Central America secondary and protective packaging demand by country, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million)     
• South & Central America secondary and protective packaging demand by packaging materials, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million) 
• South & Central America, end-use sector by packaging material (‘000 tonnes and $ million)    
• For each country:
• Secondary and protective packaging demand by end-use sector, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million)              
• List of countries:
• Brazil
• Other South & Central America
• Asia-Pacific secondary and protective packaging demand by country, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million)   
• Asia-Pacific secondary and protective packaging demand by packaging materials, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million)     
• Asia-Pacific, end-use sector by packaging material (‘000 tonnes and $ million) 
• For each country:
• Secondary and protective packaging demand by end-use sector, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes) 
• List of countries:
• China
• India
• Japan
• South Korea
• Australia
• Other Asia-Pacific
• Middle East & Africa secondary and protective packaging demand by country, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million) 
• Middle East & Africa secondary and protective packaging demand by packaging materials, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes and $ million)  
• Middle East & Africa, end-use sector by packaging material (‘000 tonnes and $ million)
• For each region:
• Secondary and protective packaging demand by end-use sector, 2023–30 (‘000 tonnes) 
• List of regions:
• Türkiye
• Other Middle East
• Africa