The World Packaging Organisation (WPO) has announced finalists in its Special Awards categories, with Australia’s Woolworths Group and Sealed Air making the cut.
The annual WorldStar Awards will be presented at a physical event during Ipack-Ima in Milan on 4 May. WPO president Pierre Pienaar congratulated all those who have received WorldStar recognition: "To be shortlisted is indeed a huge achievement. To get global recognition is outstanding. In a way this is the Olympics of packaging. A massive congratulations to the finalists for the Special Awards," he said.
In addition to the overall category winners which have already been announced, and in which the Australia & New Zealand region has scored the second highest number of wins globally (27 awards across 12 categories), WPO will also be presenting awards in the WorldStar Special categories of Marketing, Packaging that Saves Food, and Sustainability.
In the hotly contested Sustainability category, Woolworths Group has been chosen for its PaperSeal Meat Tray innovation, which features a paper tray and fresh seal film, using 75 per cent less plastic than the previous packaging.
Adopting this packaging will allow Woolworths to eliminate 2.2 tonnes of plastic from the supply chain each year across seven popular beef cuts.
On-pack instructions show consumers how to separtate the materials, with the paperboard tray recyclable via kerbside collection and the peelable vacuum films used to seal in the meat and line the trays can also be recycled through the REDcycle collection programme for soft plastics located at every Woolworths store.
Sealed Air and customer Junee Prime Lamb have been named as finalists in the Packaging that Saves Food category for the Cryovac brand Total Bone Guard, a vacuum shrink barrier bag are designed to provide a significant shelf life of 90 days, ideal for export. The design provides tough puncture, tear and abrasion resistance, high oxygen barrier properties, with built-in bone guard protection in areas that need it most.
Both packaging design were winners in the 2021 Australasian Packaging Innovation and Design awards (PIDAs), which is the exclusive entry point for the region into the WorldStar Awards programme.
To hear more about the 2022 PIDA awards programme, and why you should be entering, tune in to the PKN Podcast episode 50 with Nerida Kelton, executive director of the Australian Institute of Packaging which organises the awards.
