Kellogg, Nestlé, Coles, BioPak, and CHEP were among the big winners at the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation’s (APCO) Annual Awards ceremony, each taking home multiple accolades. Richard Fine of BioPak was crowned Sustainability Champion.
The finalists and winners (see PKN Packaging News for full list of winners and finalists) were recognised for their best practice approach to sustainable packaging design, industry leadership and sustainability education. In total, 22 awards were handed out to businesses in industry sectors as diverse as food and beverage, manufacturing, agriculture, retail, electronics, and healthcare.
Brooke Donnelly, CEO, APCO commented: “Each and every finalist recognised here has demonstrated strong leadership and innovation over the last twelve months and we’ve witnessed many success stories that highlight the very essence of what Australia needs to achieve the 2025 National Packaging Targets – collaboration.
“It’s fantastic to see APCO’s Members continue to deliver such impressive initiatives as we all work together to achieve a circular economy for packaging in Australia.”
Kellogg Australia: Sustainable Packaging Excellence Award
Kellogg Australia took home the ceremony’s main prize, the Sustainable Packaging Excellence Award, for its work to optimise 99 per cent of packaging for material efficiency. The company converted to a renewable packaging format along with the continued application of the Australasian Recycling Label on the company’s packaging.
Kellogg’s now has more than 75 per cent of its packaging labelled as recyclable through the Australian kerbside or REDcycle systems.
Kellogg Australia head of packaging David Roberts accepted the award. He said, “This award is testament to the dedication and commitment from across our business to ensure we meet our goal of 100 per cent recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging, while also optimising our sustainably produced and packaged foods.”
Roberts added that the Kellogg's team is proud of the positive impact its work has had so far.
“Led by our packaging and supply chain teams, we've reduced the amount of packaging we use and increased its recyclability. We also helped educate consumers on how to recycle through the inclusion of the ARL [Australasian Recycling Label] on our packs, and through our partnership with REDcycle,” he said.
Most recently, the company released a refreshed pack design for Nutrigrain, that will be rolled out to all cereals by March 2022.
The new look allows for easier on-pack navigation of nutrition and recycling information through a simple and cohesive design.
The updated packaging includes the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) which displays simple recycling information. The ARL makes recycling our packaging even easier for Aussies, letting them know how and where to recycle our cartons - either in their curbside recycling bin or at their local REDcycle bin for their soft-plastics.
Kellogg’s have also added a red tab in both the top and bottom left-hand corner of each box, which wraps around the carton utilising the three-dimensional nature of the pack.
The company has dedicated a third of their back of pack to an easy-to-read nutrition panel that includes ingredients, product benefits and nutrition information. Also introduced are a series of icons to help drive visual communication and convey key nutrition or product benefits.
Kellogg Australia marketing director Lucie Wolstenholme said: “The new wrap around device on our packaging really helps our shoppers to easily pick out their favourite Kellogg brand either on the store shelf, or in their pantry at home. We also wanted to make sure that the new pack design made it really easy for people to navigate to the information that is most important to them including the nutrition and sustainability information.”
The Our Packaging Future (OPF) Awards categories celebrate projects and initiatives designed specifically to help Australia reach the 2025 National Packaging Targets, counted several well-known companies among its winners.
Nestlé Australia took home the OPF Award for end-market leadership for Australia's first chemically recycled content soft food wrapper and the OPF Award for sustainability education (for consumers) for the KITKAT “Give the Planet a Break” recycling campaign.
Coles was recognised in the OPF Award for sustainability education (for industry) for its packaging data project across the Coles Own Brand supplier base.
BioPak was awarded the OPF Award for Improved Collection and Recycling Systems for Compost Connect, a food service focused organic recycling initiative and online platform.
Global supplier and industry pioneer of premium quality certified organic and natural meat Arcadian Organic & Natural Meat Co was awarded the High Performing New Member Award. Arcadian’s brands are Arcadian Meat Co, The Organic Meat Company, Cleaver’s, Arcadian Natural, Borrowdale Free Range Pork, and Warilba Organic Lamb.
CHEP Australia (Outstanding Achievement in Leadership), for increasing the uptake of the company’s ‘Share and Reuse’ circular packaging solutions. This has saved over 120 tonnes of carbon emissions through transportation optimisation, increasing pallet stacks, maximising loads and re-routing its journeys.
BioPak Founder Richard Fine took home the coveted Sustainability Champion Award in recognition of his tireless work championing compostable packaging and driving progress towards both the National Packaging Targets and the National Food Waste Strategy Targets.
On accepting the award, Fine said “I absolutely love this industry, I have packaging in my blood. It's an honour to be nominated... My hope is that the seeds we plant and the example we set today will inspire the next generation of packaging professionals to take the baton, run with it, and continue to contribute to the transformation of the packaging industry, from the current linear model towards a more regenerative circular model.”
Fine went on to say that sustainability is no longer a fringe movement, but rather a core business requirement, vital to a company's continuing licence to operate.
“Collaboration is key,” he said. “None of the sustainability initiatives that I or others have championed would be possible without the support of like-minded and passionate individuals.”
For all the sector finalists winners, head to PKN Packaging News.
