Coronavirus is forcing creativity packaging

By Stuart Wilkinson, Sales and Marketing Director

Since the coronavirus outbreak, demand for hand sanitiser and disinfecting wipes has reached unprecedented levels. Demand spiked to 1,400 per cent from December to January 2020 according to market researchers at Adobe Analytics.   

Hand sanitiser packaging demand

Due to empty shelves and a nationwide shortage, consumers are searching on Google for DIY formulas and brands are sharing recipes. Manufacturers are also switching their production lines to creating and bottling hand gel.   

At P Wilkinson Containers some of our usual customers including fillers have switched to hand gel production – really anybody who has a production line has been aiding the national effort.  

Earlier this month, Brewdog, the independent craft brewery, formulated its Punk Sanitiser containing 68 per cent alcohol. Founder James Watt told The Guardian that the company had distributed 100,000 bottles of sanitiser to groups including the Archie Foundation and Aberlour children’s charities and would continue to supply frontline workers and charities. Cosmetic brands Glossier and L’Oréal have also launched hand gel products. 

UK supplier of plastic bottles and containers

As a packaging stockist, we’ve seen a huge surge in demand for packaging formats that can be used for storing hand sanitiser, with many manufacturers getting creative with size.  Industrial drums used for a chlorine solution to wash vital equipment such as face masks, whilst industrial five litre bottles can be used for dispensing hand gel into smaller containers.  Even small 250ml 24mm neck clear PET spherical bottles usually used for luxury bath products have been ordered for sanitiser. 

Prioritising hand sanitiser packaging

We are prioritising the supply of plastic bottles to anyone producing sanitisers, in order to help fight the spread of the virus.  Same day dispatch and same day collection has also been made possible on occasion to support the NHS, and in particular, the Nightingale Hospital in London’s Excel Centre. If you are filling sanitiser and require bottles then please speak to one of our team. 

Other changes to UK packaging supply due to Corona Virus

We’ve also gained new clients from the craft and micro-brewery industry. With the closure of many pubs and restaurants cask beer is sat waiting around to be drunk.   

In fact, Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) predicts up to fifty million pints of beer and cider could be poured down the drain if Britain’s pubs don’t reopen this summer.  Unpasteurized craft beers and real ale has a short cellar life of six to nine weeks meaning many orders before lockdown will be nearing their sell by date before they can be drunk.  

Micro-breweries have been switching to metal five litre mini-kegs which feature an easy-to-use ‘pull handle and tilt’ tap (rather than a button or twist tap) so that consumers can access their favourite beers from their couches.  

Similarly, across the adhesive and sealants market we are seeing continued demand for metal lever lid tins, oblong tins and metal outside curl tins. Adhesives and sealants are being used in the production of equipment, including ventilators, needed on the frontline.  

As we move deeper into the lockdown, at P Wilkinson Containers we are continuing to stock our core range in plastic and metal ready to supply manufacturers as they embrace the forced #coronacreativity.