Packaging can be differentiated, among other things, according to whether it is in direct contact with a specific product or has a protective function with respect to the product and direct packaging. From this point of view, a distinction is made between primary and secondary packaging.

There is even a third differentiation: tertiary packaging combines several secondary packages into larger units. Have you ever considered these differences? Would the secondary packaging be dispensable under certain circumstances if the primary packaging has certain properties?

In this post we can give you some answers to your questions.

What is primary packaging and what tasks does it perform?

The primary packaging directly wraps the product. Examples include foil packaging for pasta or a can for beer. The characteristic feature of primary packaging is that it has direct contact with the respective contents. It protects the product itself and allows its storage at the end user / buyer.

Under certain conditions, primary packaging is also suitable for transport. For example, when you shop as a consumer in the supermarket, you usually purchase already packaged products there that you can transport directly to your home without further secondary packaging.

In summary, the tasks of primary packaging are the protection of the product itself and the storage of a certain content.

Primary packaging must therefore not release any harmful substances or other effects onto the product. This applies especially in the food sector, but also to pharmaceuticals and other sensitive products that have close contact with people.

Therefore, special standards often regulate the properties of primary packaging, such as food. In terms of stability and neutrality in the chemical sense, packaging materials for primary packaging are of higher quality than the following levels of packaging types.

Primary packaging also makes important contributions to the brand message and marketing of a product. Logos, advertising messages and explanations are regularly found on the primary packaging. Labels or printed areas also ensure that you can identify the respective product.

Primary packaging is characterized primarily by the fact that it has direct contact with the product.

What is secondary packaging and what are its tasks?

Secondary packaging is used to aggregate a product including primary packaging in a larger number. Then this accumulation of products can be transported in another transport packaging on the way to the end user or other companies.

In some cases, the secondary packaging is also the transport packaging, for example when shipping online to the end customer. Secondary packaging also protects the product and enables transport. However, it collects a certain amount of primary packaging. That is why it is also called collective packaging.

Tertiary packaging, on the other hand, is the classic transport packaging in the B2B segment. The transport packaging combines several collective packagings. As a consumer, you hardly have any contact with classic tertiary packaging of the trade.

The goods are presented to you in the store without this outer packaging. However, in a store you will often encounter secondary packaging as collective packaging, because products are offered to you in such packaging.

Secondary packaging is collective packaging and may also be used to present a product in a retail store, for example.

Examples: Which packaging materials are common as primary and secondary packaging?

One can also differentiate primary and secondary packaging based on the packaging material used.

The following packaging is often considered for primary packaging:

• Glasses
• Glass or polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles
• Cans
• Tubes
• Plastic wrapping and shrink films
• Doypacks and Flat pouch made of plastic and composite films and paper

Secondary packaging is often made of these materials:

• Cardboard / carton as a collection box
• Films based on different materials and composites
• Paper and cardboard boxes

Tertiary packaging consists of cartons, from wooden boxes or stretch film for pallets.

Common features of the two types of packaging

Primary and secondary packaging serve to protect the product and ensure transportability for bulk goods, for example. Today, both types of packaging are subject to certain requirements for the conscious use of raw materials and for recyclability.

Both types of packaging have a function in marketing. Here it depends on where a particular product is offered. In the supermarket, it is often the secondary packaging that transports a logo or the core of a brand. In the online sector, marketing takes place predominantly with the primary packaging.

Here, the shipping carton does not advertise the product itself, but, for example, with the logo of the mail order company. The respective packaging forms certain systems. Here, industrial and consumer packaging differ.

Industrial packaging is primarily concerned with larger units, while consumer packaging often consists of primary packaging with the product as the contents. Whether additional packaging is required as transport packaging depends on how the product reaches the end customer with the primary packaging.

In which industries and for which products are the packaging types used?

The industrial and corporate sector is regularly characterized by all three types of packaging. Here, primary packaging goes into secondary packaging as collective packaging. The collective packaging then reaches the company or the store with transport packaging.

In the private sector, primary packaging is sometimes purchased directly with the product in the store. Then the end customer himself ensures the safety of the transport to the home. In online trade, transport packaging is added.

The boundaries between the different types of packaging can be fluid. This also applies to the packaging materials used. Since there is a requirement today not to produce superfluous packaging waste, it is constantly being examined whether secondary packaging can be dispensed with, for example in online shipping.

Here, among other things, electrical devices are shipped directly in their outer carton (primary packaging) if this outer packaging is robust enough. Categorized by industry, all three types of packaging play a role, for example, in the

• Grocery
• Pharmaceutical trade
• Consumer Goods Trade
• Trade with products of the daily need like drugstore articles

a role.

All of these industries involve a mass of goods. Collective packaging as secondary packaging is hardly necessary when it comes to the delivery of individual goods such as a specific machine. Here, the individual piece of equipment receives an outer packaging and is prepared for transport in a transport packaging.

Here too, however, the boundaries between secondary and tertiary packaging are fluid. It always depends on how narrowly one understands and defines secondary packaging in the sense of collective packaging.

Basically, all three types of packaging are important where certain products reach the end customer via several stations. Here, secondary packaging plays a key role when it comes to storing products in larger quantities.

The types of packaging in e-commerce

In e-commerce, it becomes particularly clear how much it can depend on the design of a store which type of packaging is required. Different types of packaging are used depending on the store design. If you operate an online shipping business that also serves retail, you will need all three types of packaging.

Sustainability in the different types of packaging

The packaging material used is the decisive factor for the recycling of packaging. Here, different systems are opposed to each other. The classic cardboard box made of corrugated board, which is often used as transport packaging, is a sustainable packaging solution due to the high recycling rate of waste paper.

With plastics and especially with composite materials, it depends on the individual case. In the industrial sector, the recycling processes are often better positioned than in the municipal waste recycling of household waste.

At the third stage of tertiary packaging, retailers themselves ensure recycling, for example by replacing transport pallets.

For products such as jars and bottles made of glass or certain plastics, reusable systems require the primary packaging to be used several times.

Overall, the topic of sustainability is relevant in all areas of packaging. Due to the shortage of certain raw materials such as crude oil and rising energy prices, it is becoming increasingly important to consider sustainability aspects at all levels from direct product packaging to transport containers. Closed recycling loops are the declared goal in all areas.

Packaging waste and no end?

The growth in online mail order business in recent years has also increased the need for packaging for shipping transport. Here, a huge mountain of packaging waste is criticized in this context. By using corrugated board for shipping cartons, shippers are trying to integrate more sustainability aspects.

E-commerce and mail order on a large scale are partially breaking down the divisions between the individual types of packaging. Here, transport packaging is required to an extent that was never the case before in relation to the end customer. In particular, the boundaries between secondary and tertiary packaging are becoming blurred.

For example, some packages to an end customer in e-commerce combine different products in one carton. Is this collective delivery a secondary or a tertiary package? As a rule, the products in the package are not of the same type.

Basically, the answer hardly plays a practical role. What counts for the end customer is that several products reach him in protected transport packaging.

Conclusion: Differences between packaging types are becoming smaller and smaller

Not all packaging can be clearly assigned to one type of packaging today. Primary packaging is still an exception because it has direct contact with the respective contents. Primarily online mail order has ensured that tertiary packaging reaches the end customer in the sense of a transport solution.

The types of packaging also show fewer and fewer differences when it comes to the need for sustainability and recycling. In practice, it is easier to implement a closed-loop recycling economy in the industrial sector. Private waste management is lagging behind when it comes to recycling, especially for plastics.

FAQ

1. Will the distinction between the different types of packaging last?

   This has not yet been determined. What is predominantly important is that packaging in direct contact with the product must have special properties. For all other types of packaging, the boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred, especially due to the growth in e-commerce.

2. Does the consumer need to know the differences between the types of packaging?

   Not necessarily. But he should be aware of the fact that packaging in close contact with products such as food or pharmaceuticals must be specially produced. It also makes sense to be aware of superfluous packaging waste so that consumers can also make environmentally conscious purchases.