ABSTRACT
The fastest growing area of packaging, without question, is flexible packaging, a trend which promises to continue into the early 2000s. Flexible structures meet the three most important requirements for packaging, today: (1) favorable reception by consumers, who perceive them to occupy less space in waste-disposal containers and landfills; (2) significant "source reduction" (reduced amount of mate1ial) for packagers, minimizing weight, cost, and storage and transport size; and (3) readily tailorable to provide only the needed functional properties required by each product.
