The Detmold Group was recognised with an Industry Sector Award at the 2024 Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) Awards presented in Sydney last week. The award was won for reporting excellence and sustainability efforts across the group's Detpak and PaperPak brands – including reducing plastic waste through its work with Subway and pioneering the first kerbside recyclable paper bag for fresh potatoes.
The Detmold Group won the Full Framework Reporting Award for the Packaging Manufacturer / Supplier industry sector, recognising its Australian and international efforts to review its packaging range, resulting in material reductions in food trays and cartons and increased recycled content in carry bags.
The submission included Detpak’s partnership with Subway, which has resulted in 26 garbage-trucks-full of plastic being removed from the environment annually through the design of a new fibre-based, 100 per cent kerbside recyclable catering platter.
[Read more about Detpak and the Detmold Group in the Cover Story of the Nov/Dec print issue of PKN Packaging News]
It also detailed the brand’s partnership with Mitolo Family Farms to create Australia’s first kerbside recyclable paper bag for fresh potatoes, which has seen its premium potatoes sold in new paper bags – delivering a 64 per cent reduction in plastic and an annual plastic reduction of 8.2 tonnes, compared its plastic counterpart.
The bag was created in collaboration with LaunchPad, Detmold’s specialist in-house packaging design agency and research and development lab. The Detmold Group has also strengthened its global commitment to sustainability, focusing on initiatives including the installation of solar or renewable energy systems on production facilities, maximising recycling and landfill diversion, increasing recyclable content in products and installing wastewater treatment facilities.
Executive GM of Product and Brand, Keith Bishop, said the group was proud to have been recognised by the packaging industry for its efforts to create genuine change.
“Providing more sustainable choices of packaging materials and designs is important not only for our industry but for making a positive impact for our people, our partners and our planet,” Bishop said.
“We’re working hard to optimise the design of our products and reduce their end of-life impacts to support a circular economy, in tandem with investments in renewable energy and responsible procurement of raw materials to support our vision to create packaging for a better tomorrow.”
