• The 2025 PIDAs AIP President's Scholarship winner was Joel Wells, managing director at Circular, who will be given the opportunity to undertake the Diploma in Packaging Technology.
    The 2025 PIDAs AIP President's Scholarship winner was Joel Wells, managing director at Circular, who will be given the opportunity to undertake the Diploma in Packaging Technology.
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The AIP President’s Scholarship has been designed to work in collaboration with the Australasian Bioplastics Association (ABA) program to help one additional person undertake either a Certificate in Packaging or a Diploma in Packaging Technology each year.

This year, the AIP have decided that it will be providing one additional Diploma in Packaging Technology scholarship under the AIP President’s awards to Joel Wells, managing director at Circular.

About the winner:

Wells is a product design engineer with a degree in Industrial Design from RMIT and a deep-seated passion for sustainable innovation.

His career spans over two decades, starting at the age of 19 when he founded his first company, which rapidly grew and merged with two others, forming a business that is still operational today. During this time, Wells honed his skills in diverse fields - from consumer electronics to automotive design.

Wells is deeply committed to advancing sustainable packaging solutions, and this scholarship would be instrumental in furthering his mission.

While he has over 20 years of experience in product design and manufacturing, he recognises his gaps in numerous packaging substrates and the science behind packaging technology.

Wells believes that his unwavering dedication to the circular economy and his passion to influence consumer behaviour to drive truly circular packaging solutions is what sets him apart.

Undertaking the Diploma in Packaging Technology will enhance his technical expertise, providing a framework to refine existing solutions and develop new ones.

The scholarship will enable Wells to collaborate more effectively with organisations and policymakers, ensuring sustainability becomes the norm in packaging design.

In the next five years, Wells would like to shift consumers and brands toward circular solutions, redefining industry standards to create a sustainable future.

Food & Drink Business

CCEP has completed a $39.7m manufacturing upgrade at its Kewdale facility in WA, installing a high-speed can production line that increases capacity by more than 40% and lifts production speeds to 1500 cans per minute.

Nearly 6 in 10 Aussies in food and beverage manufacturing believe their organisation is becoming less productive, despite continued investment in workplace technology, according to Argon & Co.

Every food, drink, personal care and household product made in Australia starts with an investment decision. A company chooses to replace a production line, automate a process or expand a plant. That choice is now made in a global market for capital, and Australia is struggling to compete. The question is simple. Will the next generation of manufacturing investment come here?