It’s been a tumultuous yet progressive year in packaging in Australia, with highs and lows playing out against a clouded backdrop of uncertainty caused in part by the dangling sword of DCCEEW’s proposed Packaging Reform, and in part by the mounting pressure of rising manufacturing costs. Lindy Hughson reviews the top stories this year.
This is how the year took shape through the eyes of our readers (determined by the top-clicked stories on our website):
January
True to form for our summer holiday-loving nation, January was relatively quiet in Australian packaging, with Chobani topping the click charts with news of the brand owner cutting plastic by 44% in yogurt packaging, an effort that would lead to the company winning the APCO Sustainable Packaging Guidelines Award come November.
Meanwhile, Raphael Geminder was making headlines with his bid to win control of Pact, with his stake surging to 85 per cent and things looking like he was on track to gain full control of the business. Visy, Australia’s biggest packaging and recycling company, purchased the recycling assets of collapsed ACP, and acquired a stake in on-demand, right-size packaging outfit Packsize, giving Visy exclusive distribution rights in ANZ for Packsize’s technology and solutions.
At the other end of the spectrum, start-up Planet Protector Group, the company behind the Woolpack insulated packaging solution, closed a $12 million Series A capital raise from impact investors.
February
Global packaging giant Amcor was showing signs of strain, reporting that net profit had fallen by almost 60 per cent in the first half of the financial year, leading to the company axeing 2000 jobs, about five per cent of its workforce, as it seeks to reduce costs. But in some good news, Amcor inked a deal with Mondelēz International to supply 1000 tonnes of 50% post-consumer recycled plastic for flexible wrappers for the Cadbury chocolate range to reduce reliance on virgin plastics, which Amcor would be supplying the material from imported sources, since there is no food-grade PCR plastic available in the local market.
On the recycling front, the opening of Close the Loop's new soft plastic recycling facility garnered a lot of attention from peak industry bodies and the wider industry with a stake in solving Australia's soft plastics waste problem. As it turned out, due to some technical challenges, the facility has yet to live up to its promised capacity of over one tonne per hour.
In acquisition news, packaging and paper supplier Spicers Group had PKN readers a-clicking with news of its purchase of Signet Packaging. And in a nod to the rising tide of paperisation, Frugalpac paper bottle production made its debut in Australia.
March
As the first quarter close-out approached, what ended up being the year's biggest story was starting to unfold, with rumours that Australia's only PE manufacturer, Qenos, was set to close, sparking industry concern about how this would impact local plastic packaging manufacturers, and more broadly, the industry's circularity ambitions. Customers spoke out on the lack of transparency from Qenos.
In another unfolding saga, the battle for control of Pact was starting to heat up, as Raphael Geminder's opponents won an interim blocking order on any further share purchases.
The biggest processing and packaging trade show ever held in Australia, APPEX 2024, opened its doors for the first time under its new name and was declared a triumph for all of industry, with 10,500 visitors engaging with 440 local and international exhibitors, which filled the entire expo space at the Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre.
April
The Qenos closure continued to dominate the headlines in April, moving from 'closure looks likely' to 'shutdown confirmed' for its Botany site as the company moved into voluntary administration.
Ironically, this is also the month PM Anthony Albanese announced his Future Made in Australia plan which met with a mixed review from industry. As I pointed out in Ed's note at the time, it begged the question: what about supporting existing manufacturing industries that are fundamental to our way of life, which are on the brink of closure? Our local polyethylene (PE) manufacturing capability was under threat with the imminent closure of Qenos, the only PE manufacturer in the country.
A welcome distraction came from the paper packaging sector was the news of the global merger between Smurfit Kappa and WestRock, the US $11bn deal to create a USS$34bn-a-year business, and the world's biggest paper and packaging company, with some 100,000 employees at the combined group, which will operate 500 converting operations, and 67 mills, producing 23 million tonnes of board annually.
May
While readers continued to venture down the Qenos rabbit hole, in a triumph for diversity and inclusion, the announcement of the finalists for the inaugural PKN Women in Packaging Awards topped the charts in May, with 30 game-changing women selected from a competitive field.
Another successful Australian start-up, Melbourne-based material science company Great Wrap, inked a distribution deal with Opal Packaging Plus, a division of cardboard packaging and recycling company Opal ANZ, to distribute its new Certified Compostable Machine Pallet Wrap.
Winners always make a good read: Pact Group's HDPE milk bottle recycling won a circular economy award, and Don Smallgoods packaging started a winning streak by taking out the Best Packaging award in The Hive Awards run by PKN's sister publication Food & Drink Business. It would go on to take out a PIDA award later in the year.
And the Pact-takeover story still had legs, with Raphael Geminder issuing Pact shareholders with a final deadline to accept his 84c a share offer, saying that would be his best and final offer, in his long-running attempt to take full control of the business.
June
Awards reigned supreme again in the clicking tables, with the Women in Packaging winners announcement topping the charts, followed by news of the top contenders in the PIDA 2024 awards, and Australia's placing in the top 3 winning countries overall at the WorldStar awards.
Meanwhile, back to the Pact takeover which was not to be: Raphael Geminder’s $234 million bid to take full control of Pact fell short of the 90 per cent ownership he needed, resulting in the share price dropping by nine per cent in trading this week.
Soft plastics discussions came to the fore. A thought-provoking op-ed by Close the Loop's Steve Morris, calling for balance in the mechanical vs chemical recycling debate caught readers' attention, Amcor's Richard Smith outlined what it will take to transition to a circular economy for flexibles, while Australian environment ministers' announcement of a pathway forward for soft plastics collection was welcomed by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC), the main driver of the National Plastics Recycling Scheme (NPRS).
July
Soft plastics remained a hot button topic: PKN reported that a $40m investment in advanced mechanical recycling for soft plastics will see the construction of a new processing facility in South Australia at Recycling Plastics Australia’s Kilburn premises, with the application of proprietary technology supplied by PreOne.
And then, a few weeks later, iQRenew opened an advanced mechanical recycling facility, purpose-built for processing post-consumer soft plastic, with the capacity to process 15,000 tonnes of material annually, transforming the material into a high-grade feedstock for multiple remanufacturing applications.
In other recycler news, Close the Loop unveiled its new brand identity and recycling innovator Samsara Eco secured $100 million in a Series A+ funding round from new and existing investors to scale its enzymatic recycling capabilities. This technology aims to recycle millions of tonnes of plastic waste, including discarded textiles and packaging.
From recycling to recycle-ready: New recycle-ready bag-in-box packaging for water has been launched in Australia by food and beverage packaging solutions provider SIG, incorporating a new mono-polymer composition that allows a shift away from using aluminium in the bag's structure.
And paper was not to be left out, news of Coles' adoption of VektroPack's kerbside recyclable paper-based packaging for its Coles’ Bake & Create and Simply baking chocolate range.
August
The top story this month was news of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ $105m investment in a new warmfill line to be installed at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ Moorabbin, Victoria plant, which marks the biggest single investment in the company’s manufacturing network and will have the capacity to deliver up to 17.8 million unit cases annually.
Packaging reform discussion starts heating up, with Pact chairman Raphael Geminder (a strong contender for PKN newsmaker of the year), speaking out on the challenges packaging recyclers are facing and making a strong call for government to speed up the pace of legislative change. (Meanwhile, Pact's leadership in circularity was demonstrated again with its launch of AgriG8, Australia’s first recycled plastic agricultural chemical container, which will play a key role in the new circular Drums-to-Drums initiative, driven in partnership by Pact, CropLife, and AgSafe.)
And on the subject of a packaging reset, APCO charted a bold way forward, publishing its 2030 strategic plan, which it says "challenges the status quo to deliver on ambitious national packaging targets". The plan includes a new eco-modulation fee model designed to overcome economic barriers that have impeded progress towards the targets, particularly in recycling.
In the beverage packaging sector, Orora reports record earnings for its booming can business and starts to clarify its strategy of focusing only on beverage packaging, indicating it would seek to divest its North American Orora Packaging Solutions business.
September
Packaging regulatory reform takes a front seat, and PKN's coverage of DCCEEW's three-option framework for industry feedback would end up being the second most read story on our website for the year.
Meanwhile, Pro-Pac's financial woes made news. Significant reduction in volume from a major customer, adverse weather, rising resin costs, and consumers tightening the purse strings, were reasons cited by Pro-Pac for sending it deep into the red in the 2023-24 financial year. But in some rosier news for the group, its soft plastic recycling projects have had an investment boost following the latest rounds of government grants for a recycling plant in Albury and film extrusion plants in Melbourne and Perth. To date grants total $19m.
And on the subject of soft plastics, PKN's round-up of who's doing what in soft plastics recycling, and how industry is tracking was well-read.
Pact Group's circularity efforts made headlines again, this time with a tray-to-tray solution: In an Australian first, a new collaboration between Pact Group has teamed up with Hilton Foods, Woolworths Group and Cleanaway Waste Management will create a circular solution for meat trays and fruit and vegetable punnets made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
And Orora revealed it has a buyer for its OPS business, in the shape of North American company Vetiver, with the sale to be concluded come December.
October
Remaining the top click in October is the PKN article on what's next for Australia's packaging regulatory reform. And zooming into focus is another challenge for packaging manufacturers, the soaring costs of local packaging manufacture and recycling, with a closer look at what those costs are, thanks to in-depth insights provided by tubemaker Impact International.
Coles does more with paper packaging, and news of its paper punnet trial with Opal for Mountain Blue blueberries made an impression; also in paper packaging, South Australian paper-based packaging manufacturer, Detpak, has been recognised by global restaurant chain operator, Flynn Group, with a Product Excellence award for innovation and design for Pizza Hut and Wendy’s promotion and packaging projects.
Meanwhile, soft plastics were back in the headlines, with news of a $1m trial kicking off in Queensland, under the auspices of the newly-formed body Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia (SPSA).
This year’s board election for the Australian Packaging & Processing Machinery Association (APPMA), owner of the Appex trade show, saw one of the closest contests in recent years, with the highest voter turnout compared to previous rounds, and a hard-fought campaign from nominees. Two of the successful candidates, Robert Marguccio and Rosanne Jessop, would go on to be nominated chair and vice-chair respectively.
November
We love a good acquisition story at the top end of town, so not surprisingly, Amcor's $13bn merger with Berry was big news. It's one of the biggest deals ever undertaken by an ASX-listed business, in a move that will create a consumer packaging and healthcare global leader.
News also broke that Close the Loop is up for sale, with private equity fund Adamantem Capital bidding to acquire the group, offering a 49 per cent premium on the 30 day share price for the $220m a year business, with Close the Loop directors recommending shareholders accept the takeover offer. Also, Joe Foster announced he is stepping down as CEO, and from the board, but he will be staying with the company, becoming COO instead.
Paper-based innovation advances apace, with MasterFoods revealing it is trialling Australia's first paper-recyclable single-serve tomato sauce packs, reducing plastic by 58 per cent compared to its original packaging.
Sustainable packaging, leadership, and innovation achievements were recognised at the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation’s Annual Awards, with the value of collaborative efforts reflected in a number of the awards received.
The journey towards a circular economy in Australia’s packaging industry is marked by innovation, collaboration, and significant challenges. PKN speaks to local recycling companies APR Plastics/ APR Kerbside, Close the Loop, iQRenew, Martogg and Plastic Forests who share common goals and a commitment to advancing circularity, but they also highlight the need for strong government support, stable market demand, and industry engagement.
With soft plastics remaining a high interest issue, AIP's seventh State of Industry webinar focused on the future of soft plastics recycling in Australia, and provided updates on the progress of the industry-led soft plastics recycling scheme.
For industrial soft plastics, readers responded to this good news story: In a collaborative effort, Kimberly-Clark Australia and Woolworths have successfully completed a packaging trial aimed at eliminating the use of secondary plastic packaging for Viva paper towels. The initiative, now set to become standard practice, is projected to save 15 tonnes of plastic annually – the equivalent of 1.6 million 500ml plastic bottles.
The top plant investment story this month was the $22.2 million can line upgrade at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) Australia's Richlands facility, now officially up and running, with construction now underway on an additional can line, backed by a further multi-year $75 million investment.
December
As this month is not over yet, we can only snapshot the stories looking hot so far: Top click so far is news that two proposed recycling projects in New South Wales, supported by a $7.4 million government investment, are set to divert over 12,000 tonnes of hard-to-recycle plastics from landfill annually, transforming them into valuable materials for local manufacturing.
The Environment Ministers Meeting outcomes are only just published, but already clicking high, as was Boomerang Alliance's call to the ministers, ahead of the meeting, not to break their promises.
It remains to be seen what 2025 will hold for packaging regulatory reform.
That's the wrap from us for the year, PKN looks forward to continuing to be your go-to resource for Australian packaging news in 2025.
