The consumer market shows a clear regional concentration, and young people have become the main consumers of eco-friendly tableware.
Release time:
2025-12-29
According to the "2024 China Eco-Friendly Packaging Consumer Market Research Report" released by iResearch, China's pulp-molded tableware consumer market exhibits a pronounced regional concentration. The combined market share of the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic zone accounts for 65.7% of the national total, representing a year-on-year increase of 26.1% and making these three regions the core growth engines driving the industry’s development.
The “2024 China Environmental Packaging Consumer Market Research Report” released by iResearch Consulting shows that the domestic pulp-molded tableware market exhibits a pronounced regional concentration. The combined market share of the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic zones accounts for 65.7% of the national total, representing a year-on-year increase of 26.1% and making these regions the core growth engines driving industry development. This regional distribution pattern is closely linked to local policy enforcement, economic development levels, and consumers’ growing environmental awareness. Taking the Yangtze River Delta region as an example, cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Suzhou have all introduced stringent implementation rules for the “plastic restriction order,” imposing comprehensive, end-to-end oversight on the use of plastic tableware in sectors including catering and food delivery. Non-compliance will result in severe penalties. Meanwhile, these regions boast a highly developed catering industry with food-delivery penetration rates exceeding 60%, providing ample market demand for pulp-molded tableware. Local consumers also demonstrate significantly higher acceptance of eco-friendly products than the national average. Survey data reveals that in the Yangtze River Delta, consumer awareness of pulp-molded tableware reaches 82%, and the proportion willing to proactively choose such products stands at 68%. From the perspective of consumer demographics, the 25-35 age group has become the primary driving force behind the consumption of eco-friendly tableware. Among them, 78.3% of consumers are willing to pay a premium for environmentally friendly packaging—a figure that has risen by 12.7 percentage points compared to 2023, far surpassing other age groups. This demographic is predominantly composed of young white-collar workers and college students who have grown up in an era when environmental awareness has become widely普及. They have a deeper understanding of the dangers posed by plastic pollution and regard environmental friendliness as a key factor in their purchasing decisions. According to related research published by MDPI, Generation Z (born between 1995 and 2010) strongly prefers eco-friendly packaging solutions and is more likely to choose brands that use biodegradable and renewable materials. Moreover, social media has further amplified this consumption trend: young consumers share their eco-friendly shopping experiences on social platforms, creating a positive ripple effect that helps spread the concept of environmentally conscious consumption to broader audiences. Notably, the consumption preferences of younger consumers are compelling catering companies to accelerate their transformation. Brands such as Starbucks and Heytea have already launched customized pulp-molded tableware sets tailored specifically for this younger demographic, thereby enhancing product market acceptance and injecting strong internal momentum into industry development.
