A 20-strong delegation of PIDA winners from Australia and New Zealand flew to Bangkok, Thailand to attend the 2024 WorldStar Packaging Awards ceremony, which was held at ProPak Asia on Saturday 15 June. The delegation celebrated the ANZ region placing third in the world for the highest number of general awards, and cheered on two special award recognitions for the region announced on the night.
The KOi refillable foaming handwash starter kit and 4-pack refillable handwash tablets entry from Coles Group was recognised with a Silver President Award, and JBS Swift Lamb Cutlets Cryovac Darfesh mono-PET rollstock (SEE) took out the coveted Gold for the Sustainability special award category.
John Bigley, AIP's president, accepted the Silver President Award for Coles, while Nerida Kelton, wearing her vice president Sustainability and Save Food hat for the World Packaging Organisation (WPO), was extremely proud to have been able to personally present Alan Adams of SEE with the Gold Sustainability Award.
As the Silver winner for the President Award, Natalie Shaw, sustainable packaging lead at Coles Group, said, “Winning a Silver President Award, on top of winning a WorldStar general award, is a significant achievement for the Coles Own Brand Team and we are proud to represent Australia and New Zealand in this prestigious awards program. It reinforces that working in packaging is a dynamic space that celebrates innovation and sustainable design.
“The Coles team are committed to improve sustainability across our product packaging that, in turn, enables customers to divert packaging waste, including plastic, from landfill. Winning two Worldstar awards is a high recognition and provides motivation to keep improving and innovating as we work towards supporting industry in delivering the 2025 National Packaging Targets.”
Alan Adams, sustainability director APAC at SEE, said, “We were surprised to win the Gold Sustainability Award and are thrilled to receive this pinnacle of recognition for our teams at SEE and JBS teams who drive – behind the scenes – the delivery of sustainable high-performance packs to market. A big thank you to the WPO, and the AIP via the Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design (PIDA) Awards, for this opportunity to celebrate and recognise our great teams.”
Nerida Kelton added, “What an absolute honour to have been able to celebrate the ANZ PIDA award-winning packs, and to also present the Gold Sustainability Award to JBS and SEE. A very special moment was to also find out on the night that Coles received the Silver President’s Award, which is a remarkable achievement.”
“For me, personally, it truly is a proud moment to see how well PIDA winners continue to do on the global stage, how we all come together to celebrate the companies that are recognised, and how we are the loudest cheer squad in the room year-on-year. To receive a WorldStar Packaging Award is becoming more difficult each year, as there are so many entries from across the globe to choose from.
“The latest round of WorldStar Packaging Awards attracted 435 entries from 41 countries and 35 judges determined 214 winners for the 2024 round of the awards program. For ANZ to do so well each year is a true testament to how innovative and intuitive our packaging designs really are on a global scale. Congratulations to the 16 winning companies and we can’t wait for 2025.”
The AIP also had a large area in ProPak Asia that showcased 2023 PIDA winners for all of the visitors of the exhibition to see. The area had high traffic for the four days of the show with many enquiries about the packaging designs.
ANZ PIDA winners have once again been internationally recognised with 16 awards across eight categories, including Packaging Materials & Components, Food, Other, Household, Health & Personal Care, E-Commerce, Labelling & Decoration, and Alcoholic Beverages.
Three of the region's innovations were recognised across multiple categories – the DualPakECO certified compostable food trays (Confoil/BASF), Wine Protector Packaging (Planet Protector Packaging), and KOi foaming handwash starter kit and refill solution by Coles Group. In addition, first time entrant Australian Organic Food Co. was recognised for the Australasian-first Minestrone Soup mono material retort pouch (Flavour Makers & Toppan), and Future Ecology – Emguard (Oji Fibre Solutions) from New Zealand.
Only winners from the PIDA Awards are eligible in the region to enter the prestigious global WorldStar Packaging Awards, which are run by the WPO.
Full list of winners for Australia and New Zealand:
SPECIAL AWARDS
President Award - Silver
- KOi refillable foaming handwash starter kit and 4-pack refillable handwash tablets (Coles Group)
Sustainability Special Award - Gold
- JBS Swift Lamb Cutlets CRYOVAC Darfesh Mono-PET rollstock (SEE)
GENERAL CATEGORIES
Packaging Materials & Components
- Australian Organic Food Co Minestrone Soup mono material retort pouch (Flavour Makers & Toppan)
- DualPakECO compostable food trays (Confoil & BASF)
- Herma InNo Liner Labelling (Result Group & Hanes Australasia)
- Aqueous BioCups (BioPak)
- RafCycle (UPM Raflatac)
Food
- DualPakECO compostable food trays (Confoil & BASF)
- JBS Swift Lamb Cutlets CRYOVAC Darfesh Mono-PET rollstock (SEE)
- Coles Finest Carbon Neutral Steak Vacuum Packaging (Coles Group & Plantic Technologies)
Other
- Future Ecology – EmGuard (Oji Fibre Solutions NZ)
Household
- KOi refillable foaming handwash starter kit and 4-pack refillable handwash tablets (Coles Group)
- Dulux 50% rPP Paint and Lid (Pact Group & Dulux Group)
E-Commerce
- Wine Protector (Planet Protector Packaging)
Health & Personal Care
- KOi refillable foaming handwash starter kit and 4-pack refillable handwash tablets (Coles Group)
Labelling & Decoration
- The Good Smoothie Milk Powder Composite Pack (Nutura Organic & Zipform Packaging)
- Sustain OzHarvest Cups (Bunzl Australia and New Zealand)
Alcoholic Beverages
- Wine Protector (Planet Protector Packaging)
