Disposable Cups Market Trends

Growth Drivers

• Worldwide emergence of middle-class people with rising income: The middle class is currently the world's largest consumer group, driving higher consumption of materials and goods. Therefore, the emerging middle class is leading to the increased demand for disposable cups. According to data published by the Pew Research Center in 2020, 17% of the global population could be considered middle-income. The disposable cup is the most commonly used food/beverage container amongst the middle-class population while completing their daily errands. Also, the increasing per capita income of people across the world is also boosting the disposable cups market revenue. As per the World Bank data, in 2021, the worldwide annual per capita income rose by 4.8% as contrasted to 1.5% annual per capita income in 2019.
• Staggering increase in eating out and food and beverage outlets: According to data published by the National Institutes of Health in 2020, more than 50% of American adults eat out 3 or more times a week. The adoption of disposable cups in the fast-food industry is acting as a canvas for marketing and demonstrating sustainability efforts taken by the companies. Also, the usage of disposable cups streamlines the beverage serving process, allowing companies to serve a lot of consumers with speed and precision.
• Rising environmental concerns: According to data published by GRACE Communication Foundation in 2019, 16 million disposable coffee cups each year are utilized. Researchers are raising concerns over the consequences of dumping these cups in to landfills. Due to this, market players are emphasizing adopting eco-friendly materials for making disposable cups such as bamboo, sugar cane bagasse pulp, corn starch, etc.

Challenges

• Usage of plastic and single-use materials: Most of disposable cups are made up of plastic which are extremely harmful for the environment. This is making consumers apprehensive regarding the usage of the disposable cups. There is has been increased focus on using sustainable products in recent years. Additionally, the government has banned the use of these plastics to control environmental pollution which hampers the market growth.
• Health concerns: It has also been demonstrated that while consuming a hot beverage from disposable paper cups results in the ingestion of fluoride and MPs ions released from the cups. This may hamper the growth of the disposable cups market.