Following a new record of over 100 entries this year, the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) has put a spotlight on 45 organisations to be recognised at the APCO Awards for their exceptional leadership and dedication to packaging sustainability.
The annual APCO Awards ceremony, held in partnership with the Banksia Foundation, recognises and celebrates Australian organisations that are leading the way in sustainable packaging design and innovation.
The Awards celebrates Australian industry’s commitment to delivering the 2025 National Packaging Targets, and building a national circular economy approach to packaging.
“In what has been a watershed year for the packaging industry, it is remarkable to see the outstanding innovation, leadership and dedication to sustainable practices from businesses across the industry,” said Chris Foley, APCO’s CEO.
“The finalists have not only set exceptionally high standards, but are leading the way for a more sustainable future and are the driving force behind the positive change we aim to achieve for the packaging industry.”
The Our Packaging Future winners will be announced at the Awards ceremony, held on Thursday 2 November at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney.
This year’s Awards ceremony will also be preceded by a half-day conference exploring the theme ‘The Future of Packaging’.
All of industry are invited to register now to reserve their spot for the Awards ceremony. Registrations close on 19 October at 11:59pm (AEDT), and can be accessed here.
LIST OF FINALISTS
2023 INDUSTRY SECTOR FINALISTS
Finalists in the Industry Sector Awards are assessed based on members’ Annual Reporting scores and their performance against the Packaging Sustainability Framework criteria. This year’s finalists include:
SME Industry Sector Award Finalists
- Advanced Skin Technology
- Audio Brands Australia
- Bee Dee Bags
- Berton Vineyards
- CHEP
- Colourtrend Paints (Australia)
- Comsol
- Dentalife
- Glow Consumer Products
- Insulect Australia
- KeepCup
- Modern Dental Pacific
- O F Packaging
- Quintis Sandalwood
- Shaw and Smith
- Sleep Corp
Full Report Score Award Finalists
- ABC Tissues Products
- Ball and Doggett
- Belkin Limited
- Blundstone Australia
- Clorox Australia
- Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
- Coty Australia
- Detmold Packaging
- HBI Holdings Australasia
- Hobson Engineering Co
- Lion
- Pohlman's Nursery
- Real Pet Food Company
- Recochem Inc
- Rivalea (Australia)
- The Arnott's Group
- Zipform Packaging
2023 OUR PACKAGING FUTURE AWARDS
The Our Packaging Future Awards highlight innovation and leadership from members in sustainable packaging education (industry and consumer facing), improved collection and recycling systems, recycled content, and reuse systems.
Our independent judges, facilitated by Banksia Foundation, assessed applications against three key pillars of innovation, accessibility and impact. The finalists include:
- Bega Group
- Brasshards Group
- Brother International Australia
- CHEP Australia
- Coles Group
- Grounded Packaging
- Hewitt
- Huskee
- Norco Co-Operative
- Officeworks
- Samoa Recycling and Waste Management Association
- SC Johnson
- Tetra Pak Oceania & saveBOARD
- Unilever Australia
- Winning Group
2023 SUSTAINABILITY CHAMPION AWARD
The Sustainability Champion Award recognises individual commitment to a range of criteria, including dedication to embedding sustainability into organisational practice, leadership, outstanding performance, standout achievements and personal growth. The Sustainability Champion finalists are:
- Bryan McKay, Head of Packaging – Woolworths
- Nicole Rindal, Director of Customer Advocacy & Compliance – Belkin Limited
- Dennis Tynkkynen, Engineering Manager – Hanes Australasia
- Jeff Maguire, Director of Packaging Collection and Recycling – Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
BEST OF THE BEST REPORTING EXCELLENCE AWARD
Previously known as the ‘Sustainable Excellence Award’, this award honours the highest performing APCO member of the APCO Industry Sector Awards.
The award is given based on report score and report content – for example, those who focus on sustainable packaging initiatives and innovations in line with the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines (SPGs) and National Packaging Targets. The finalists are:
- Belkin Limited
- Comsol
- Hanes Australasia
- The Arnott’s Group
