Warning to pressure-sensitive labelmakers: For the European beverage-container market, at least, printed shrink-sleeve labels are fast becoming a dominant primary-decoration method. Add to that multi-packs of canned drinks collated by shrink films, and your past customers are rapidly moving away from p-s labels.

According to a new report from Bristol, UK-based Applied Market Information, Ltd. (www.amiplastics.com), the collation shrink-film market was a $1.6-billion business in Europe last year, accounting for nearly 800,000 metric tons of polyethylene resin. In recent years, there have been considerable developments in the types of polyethylenes used, which in turn has led to changes in film structure and thickness. The market is expected to continue to grow as sq ft of film used, but further downgauging will mean relatively little growth in terms of film weight (and volume of material used).

The development of metallocene- and bimodal low-density polyethylene resins has radically altered the structure of collation shrink films. Metallocenes were hardly used in 2000, but their application has been growing at rates over 60 percent annually since then in this application, AMI reports. Volumes are still modest (metallocenes accounted for less than 3 percent of the market in 2006) but are expected to continue growing at nearly 20 percent a year to 2011.

To enhance print quality, the newest coextruded shrink films use metallocene resins in the outer layers. This has the triple benefit of providing a high-gloss printable surface, producing a film with improved transparency, and yielding downgauging of the film by selection of appropriate resins for the core layer. This last, non-cosmetic benefit is sure to become more important as environmental initiatives gain momentum in the coming years with the aim of minimizing raw-material use, advises AMI.

The largest end-use for collation shrink films is the beverage market, which made up nearly half of all PE collation shrink-film demand in Europe last year (see chart below). This sector will offer the highest growth potential—driven by the increase in multi-packs of canned drinks.

An American example of this trend is Culver, OR's Earth2O bottled water (above left). The packager collates 18 containers in printed shrink film from Shields Bag & Printing (www.shieldsbag.com). The film serves as an alternative to paperboard and corrugated packaging.

The growing share of food and beverages purchased via new supermarketing in southern and central Europe combined with the further concentration of established supermarket sales in northern Europe is the primary driver of collation shrink films on the continent. Again, multi-packs, particularly for beverages, are boosting demand for printed collation films. Major flexible-packaging printers will gain significant advantage as the demand for printed films is forecasted by AMI to grow from 12 percent of the market last year to 19 percent in 2011—nearly doubling in terms of tonnage.