2019 PIDA winners announced

PACT Group, Punchbowl Packaging and SPC Ardmona were just some of the winners of the 2019 Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design Awards (PIDA), which recognised companies and individuals making a significant difference in their field across Australia and New Zealand.

The PIDA Awards, coordinated by the Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) and Packaging New Zealand, are the exclusive feeder program for the WorldStar Packaging Awards run by the World Packaging Organisation (WPO). Announced at a gala dinner on 30 April in Sydney, some of the winning companies of this year’s awards included:

2019 Packaging Innovation & Design of the Year Award

This award recognises organisations that have designed innovative packaging and processing materials, packaging and machinery/equipment within packaging and processing. In the beverage category, this includes liquid or dry tea, coffee, water, wine, beer and spirits, while the food category covers fresh, frozen and other foods.

Beverage category

PACT Group was announced as the gold winner for the New Zealand brand Lewis Road Creamery post-consumer sourced PCR 100% recycled rPET milk bottle range. The rPET bottles and simple label design are based on old-style glass milk bottles and have a sturdy, premium-feel that captures the brand’s history and credentials. This is the first Australasian milk producer to change to 100% rPET that is also 100% recyclable, according to the AIP.

Silver winner: Stay tray for its re-usable drink tray that is designed with 100% recycled material sourced from Australian businesses to reduce single use.

Bronze winner: Moonuka Milk Limited for the first Milk and Mānuka Honey beverage designed in New Zealand in an old-fashioned aseptic PET milk bottle with a removable PET shrink sleeve.

Food category

The gold winner in the food category was Danone ELN NZ Supply Point for its sachet multipack for both Aptamil and Karicare Infant Formula. The packaging format had to meet the consumer expectations of being easy to open, pour and carry around in a handbag or baby bag. Danone also designed its own sealing jaw that was manufactured locally and incorporates a cutting form that allows for perforations to be formed in the modified sealing area, which allows for easy opening.

Silver winner: Don KRC, a Division of George Weston Foods, for its Just Add Don convenient stand-up pouch for a range of smallgoods cooking ingredients.

Bronze winner: OJI Fibre Solutions for RJ’s Licorice open top and open front Shelf Friendly Packaging that was designed to withstand export from New Zealand to Australia as well as handle stacking from pallet displays straight into supermarkets.

Labelling & Decoration category

This new category is designed to recognise the addition of content to a pack which creates a unique or innovative appearance, function or communication.

Currie Group was announced as the gold winner for its new printing technology for packaging that showcases high-end printing, finishing, coding, marking and AR technology driving awareness to The Australian Rhino Project (TARP).

Silver winner: Metalprint Australia for Chobani Australia Spooky Vanilla Ghost Shaped Pouch.

2019 Accessible Packaging Design Special Award

This recognises packaging that is accessible, intuitive, easy to open and innovative. It needs to include measuring techniques, understanding injuries caused by packaging and consumer satisfaction levels with packaging accessibility.

SPC Ardmona took home the award for the SPC ProVital Easy-Open Diced Fruit in Jelly range that is designed for all consumers to open, including those with reduced fine motor skills, dexterity and strength. The key design features of the ProVital pack are the textured and lengthened pull tab, combined with the easy grip decagon cup shape and low opening force. All packaging instructions and information were clear and helpful, with the use of the appropriate font size and excellent print contrast.

Silver winner: Flavour Creations for its pre-thickened Ready-To-Drink (RTD) range packaged in the new Dysphagia Cup and Cup Holder, which is designed to increase rates of hydration and decrease rates of malnutrition for dysphagia sufferers.

2019 Save Food Packaging Design Special Award

This award is designed to recognise companies that have developed innovative and sustainable packaging solutions that minimise food losses and food waste.

The gold winner was Hazeldene’s Chicken Farm & Sealed Air for Cryovac Darfresh on tray vacuum skin technology that has been engineered to address key challenges facing the food processing industry, including food safety, shelf life extension, operational efficiency and brand building. The pack is claimed to provide an increase of shelf life by 25% over existing MAP applications. It has a tear tab and peelable top film, the serving size has been optimised to serve 2x, it is freezer-ready and the vacuum environment ensures no product dehydration.

Flavour Creations was the silver winner again.

2019 Sustainable Packaging Design Special Award

This recognises companies that have developed innovative packaging or processing solutions that incorporate sustainability considerations. Due to the number of submissions, the award winners were separated in to two subset categories: materials and circular economy.

In the materials category, the gold winner was Punchbowl Packaging for the Kaituna Blueberries peel-able, re-sealable, tamper-proof top seal fibre punnets. Kaituna has been able to achieve a 10% weight reduction compared with the standard 125 grams blueberries plastic labelled clamshell. The punnet is made from renewable unbleached wheat straw and is compostable in industrial compost systems. It is also recyclable, with pulpability testing indicating a 95% fibre yield result.

The materials silver winner was Plantic Technologies for the NEAT Meat Tray using PLANTIC RV high barrier Skin Pack recyclable material, while the bronze winner was Impact International for the Sarah, Craig and Margorie range of 100% recycled PE and sugar cane PE tubes.

PACT Group was recognised as the gold winner for the second time in the circular economy category.