The news you need to know: April 2026

Welcome to PLAY Food & Drink Business news review for April. It was a big month – a global deal that reshapes the flavour industry, a significant structural shift at Australia’s national science body, and some frustrating news for the food relief sector. Let’s get into it.

Packaging News

More than 700 Woolworths supermarkets across five states are now accepting soft plastics again, marking a major expansion of Australia’s growing soft plastics recovery network.

The 2026 Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design (PIDA) Awards finalists have been announced, with this year’s shortlist spotlighting the innovations, materials and talent shaping the future of packaging across Australia and New Zealand – and setting the stage for a competitive run into the global WorldStar awards.

PulPac has signed Australian packaging company Zipform Packaging as a licensee of its Dry Molded Fiber technology, to accelerate the development of fibre-based solutions for food packaging applications.