The ANZ region has outshone global counterparts in the 2020 WorldStar Special Awards, winning two golds, a silver and a bronze award for food and beverage packaging design, and bringing the region's overall 2020 WorldStar awards tally to a record-breaking 21.
Sealed Air, Pact Group, Plantic Australia and Woolworths Australia have picked up an array of medals in the 2020 WorldStar Packaging Special Awards, following their category wins in the main 2020 WorldStar awards and bringing the awards tally for the region to 21.
The WorldStar Special Awards are traditionally announced a few months after the main awards, and this year the ANZ region has broken records at both.
Compared with other countries who entered, winners from across Australia and New Zealand received the highest number of Special Awards and the third highest number of WorldStar Packaging Awards this year. This brings the ANZ total awards to 21 for the 2020 WorldStar Packaging Awards.
Taking out the Gold Packaging that Saves Food Special Award is Sealed Air's Cryovac Darfresh on Tray vacuum skin technology for Hazeldene’s Chicken Farm. The pack has been engineered to address food safety, achieves a 25 per cent extension of shelf life over the previously used modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) format, and enables improved on-pack communication.
Pact Group won the Gold Sustainability Special Award for the New Zealand brand Lewis Road Creamery PCR 100% recycled PET milk bottle range. In the same category, Woolworths Australia won Silver for replacing plastic trays with pulp-based trays nationally into all stores for over 50 of its in-store bakery products.
The Bronze winner of the 2020 WPO Presidents Award is Plantic Technologies for the Plantic RV Material that was designed for Moana seafood company to supply fresh fish to on-line meal delivery company My Food Bag. This is the first time an ANZ entry has ever won an award in this category.
According to Nerida Kelton, executive director of the Australian Institute of Packaging, this global recognition is a significant achievement for the Australia and New Zealand packaging industries and for the Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) which has led the annual Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design (PIDA) Awards program for the industry.
The PIDAs are the exclusive feeder program for the WorldStar Packaging Awards for ANZ. The 2021 PIDA Awards program will be open for entries late 2020.
Due to the current pandemic, and the postponement of global trade show Interpack where the WorldStar awards presentation was to be held this month, the winners of each Special Award will now receive their awards at Interpack in Dusseldorf, Germany on 26 February 2021.
