The 2023 WorldStar Packaging Awards, run by the World Packaging Organisation, saw 300 people from over 40 countries converge at interpack in Duesseldorf, Germany. Of the 300 guests, 20 were Australians who had travelled halfway across the globe to receive their awards and be recognised by their global peers for their packaging designs.

Australian and New Zealand companies received the second highest amount of wins in the world, tailing Japan. This is the second year in a row that the region has dominated the global awards program, which is a true reflection of the innovative packaging designs being developed in the Southern Hemisphere. 

Not only were A/NZ PIDA Award winners recognised with 19 awards across nine categories, but three of the companies picked up the coveted WorldStar Special Awards which were announced live on the night. 

Caps & Closures was recognised with silver recognition for two different products – the NEW Accessible Packaging design Special Award for the EzyGrip and Packaging that Saves Food Special Award for the ThermoShield Temperature Monitoring System – Food. This brought the tally for Caps & Closures to six WorldStar awards, making it the first Australian company in history to win this many awards.  

Caps & Closures managing director Brendon Holmes said, “When the recognition comes from your industry peers, representing Australia comes with immense pride. Receiving two WorldStar Special Awards that recognise our efforts in Save Food Packaging and Accessible Packaging was tremendous.

“Our dedicated team has invested hours, weeks and months into finding solutions for challenging issues we all face as consumers. Our focus on fighting food waste, brand protection, accessibility and sustainability remains, and these awards inspire us further to continue down this path. It was good to see many companies at interpack adopting similar innovative solutions that improve the consumer experience in accessibility and functionality.”

BioPak also made history being the first Australian company to win the coveted gold Sustainability Special Award for its Sugarcane Pulp Hot & Cold Cup Lids. This brought BioPak’s tally to three wins for the 2023 edition.

BioPak CEO Gary Smith said, “Each day we come into BioPak with a passion for change and a passion for sustainable improvement in our industry. There is little focus on anything else. Working in a closed environment and not understanding the impact of what we take for granted as our day-to-day has a danger of stuffing passion.

“Attending the WorldStar Awards and being surrounded by so many innovators and change makers was humbling and a boost to make me excite all at our business into working harder and smarter at continual improvement and sustainable developments.

“We were humbled to be singled out in an evening to receive the coveted gold for the Sustainability Special Award, where there is so much good in overcoming mediocrity and bad practices.”  

In addition, A/NZ had a table of first-time winners including Result Group, Ego Pharmaceutical, JBS and Opal.

The nine general categories where A/NZ designs were recognised include Food, Fresh Fruit & Vegetables, Beverages, Household, Transit, Medical & Pharmaceutical, Health & Personal Care, Labelling & Decoration and Other.

Food

• Smarties Paperisation – Nestlé Australia 
• Waitoa free range chicken – Ingham’s New Zealand, Sealed Air New Zealand 
• Ecotite R barrier shrink bags – Amcor Flexibles 
• Praise 100 per cent rPET Mayonnaise Bottle – Goodman Fielder
• FSC Rectangle Paper Containers – BioPak

Fresh Fruit & Vegetables

• Australian Table Grapes (ATGA) pilot – Result Group

Beverages

• Kraft Renewable Milk Carton – Brownes Dairy
• Norco 100 per cent rPET Milk bottle – Pact Group
• Coles Home Compostable Coffee Capsules – Coles Group
• Sugarcane pulp hot and cold cup lids – BioPak
• ThermoShield Temperature Monitoring system – Caps & Closures

Household

• Earthwise Eco Laundry Scoop – Earthwise Group
• KOH Kerbside recyclable spout pouch refill pack – O F Packaging & Close the Loop Group

Health & Personal Care

• Etch & Ethos – EGO Pharmaceutical

Medical & Pharmaceutical

• EzyGrip – Caps & Closures
• ID Shield Anti counterfeit system – Caps & Closures

Transit 

• JBS and Opal Dunnage Solution – JBS and Opal

Labelling & Decoration

• ID Shield Anti counterfeit system – Caps & Closures

Other

• Royal Australian Mint Coin Box – Macher

The full list of 2023 WorldStar Packaging Award winners globally can be viewed here.