The winners of the 2021 WorldStar Packaging Awards were officially recognised during a virtual awards ceremony on 9 June, and in the biggest news of the night, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (formerly Coca-Cola Amatil), took out the Gold for Sustainable Packaging Design.
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) won the pinnacle Gold for its work in producing Australia’s first 100 per cent recycled PET (rPET) bottle for carbonated beverages – a world-first in the Coca-Cola bottler system to make the change at scale.
As a result, it is now producing all single-serve carbonated and water bottles in 100 per cent rPET in Australia including brands Coca-Cola, Fanta and Sprite, as well as Keri Juice, Mount Franklin and Barista Bros.
The increase in the use of rPET reduces the amount of new plastic resin used by the company by an estimated 10,000 tonnes per year in Australia.
“We are so happy that we not only won a WorldStar Packaging general award, but that we have also been awarded the Gold Sustainable Packaging Special Award for 2021,” said Marlene CronjeVermeulen, Future Works manager at CCEP.
“The Gold Sustainable Packaging Special Award truly is the crowning achievement for our team and will form the platform from which our sustainable initiatives will develop.
“We thank the World Packaging Organisation and all of the judges for making this opportunity possible.”
Overall, 10 Australia and New Zealand companies were internationally recognised with 13 awards across seven categories. Winners from the ANZ region combined, received the fourth highest amount of WorldStar Packaging Awards in the world, behind Japan (26), China (22) and the USA (14).
The 2021 ANZ WorldStar winners are winners from the 2020 Packaging Innovation & Design (PIDA) Awards program, which is the exclusive feeder program for the two countries into the WorldStar Packaging Awards. The 2021 PIDA winners are now eligible for entry into the 2022 WorldStar programme.
The categories where ANZ designs were recognised include Food, Beverage, Labelling & Decoration, Health & Personal Care, Household, Packaging Materials & Components, and Transit.
“For over 50 years, the World Packaging Organisation (WPO) has been recognising companies for their innovative packaging designs through the prestigious WorldStar Global Packaging Awards,” said Nerida Kelton, executive director, AIP and WPO vice president of Sustainability & Save Food.
“The WorldStar Packaging Awards have been the pre-eminent global awards for packaging innovation, illustrating the continual advancement of the state of packaging design and technology, and creates a living standard of global packaging design excellence from which others may learn.
“Awards are based on the judges consensus that a pack is superior in its category and market, and better in its class in execution or innovation by comparison to others.
“For the 2021 round of the world’s top packaging awards, there were 345 entries, which was a record number of entries from 35 countries. The global judging panel decided that 194 entries were to be awarded WorldStar Packaging Awards.”
The other 2021 WorldStar Packaging Award winners for Australia and New Zealand are:
WorldStar Packaging Awards Food Category
- Planet Protector Packaging for the Lobster Protector
- Disruptive Packaging for Uniqcor for cold chain environments
- Platypus Print Packaging for the Youfoodz Meal Kit
- Sealed Air Brand Protective Packaging for the TempGuard kerbside recyclable packaging for pre-packaged, temperature-sensitive goods
WorldStar Packaging Awards Beverage Category
- Coca-Cola Europacific Partners for 100% recyclable rPET bottles
- Ecolean for the Bannister Downs Dairy WA chilled pasteurised range
- Brownes Dairy for Australia’s first renewable gable top milk carton
WorldStar Packaging Awards Labelling & Decoration Category
- NCI Packaging & DuluxGroup for the Porter’s Paints superior crafted paint can range
WorldStar Packaging Awards Household Category
- Pact Group for New Zealand’s Earthwise brand of PCR 75% rHDPE household cleaning range
- Birdstone Collective & NCI Packaging for the DuluxGroup Cabot’s Ready Bucket
WorldStar Packaging Awards Packaging Materials & Components Category
- Planet Protector Packaging for the Lobster Protector
WorldStar Packaging Awards Health & Personal Care Category
- Pact Group for the New Zealand Earthwise Glow Labs brand of PCR 100% rPET bottle range
WorldStar Packaging Awards Transit Category
- Planet Protector Packaging for the Lobster Protector
Lifetime Achievement Award
- Ralph Moyle
