In round one of the first-ever virtual awards ceremony for the Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design (PIDA) Awards, winners were announced across six categories today, including Food and Accessible Packaging Design.
The awards ceremony, organised by the Australian Institute of Packaging in conjunction with Packaging New Zealand, and co-hosted by Lindy Hughson, publisher of exclusive media partners Food & Drink Business and PKN Packaging News, is running across two days, 6 and 7 May. Today's announcement covered five categories, with full coverage on sister publication PKN's website here.
The PIDA Awards recognise companies and individuals who are making a significant difference in their field across Australia and New Zealand. It is also the exclusive feeder program for Australia and New Zealand for the prestigious WorldStar Packaging Awards run by the World Packaging Organisation.
The Food category showcases the businesses designing innovative packaging and/or materials within food packaging and processing, including fresh, frozen or 'other' sectors. All entries are also judged on sustainable packaging design considerations and what packaging changes they are undertaking to meet the 2025 National Packaging Targets.
Commenting on the food packaging design category as a whole, Lindy Hughson said, 'When it comes to good food packaging design, the top priorities are food waste prevention, food safety, product protection and sustainability. It's the high level of innovation we are consistently seeing in this category that is putting Australian packaging design on the world map. This year's winner is no exception."
The Gold award in the Food category was awarded to Planet Protector Packaging for its Lobster Protector solution.
The flat-packed, recyclable, biodegradable, renewable and compostable packaging is made from 100 per cent food safe materials and marks a first-time development in the seafood industry.
The packaging design consists of three key components: a wool liner, a fibreboard insert and a corrugated carton with a unique coating to make the carton water resistant.
The Lobster Protector packaging has demonstrated it's able to keep live lobsters at 7-12 degrees Celsius for more than 36 hours. The packaging is also designed to work with technology such as data loggers, to enable real- time temperature monitoring by the customer during transit.
Industry testing has also demonstrated that the Lobster Protector design outperforms traditional packaging such as polystyrene, and has the capacity to remove around 1.2 million polystyrene boxes from the supply chain each year.
The Food category also saw a tie for its Silver award, with Platypus Print Packaging recognised for its Youfoodz Meal Kit, as well as Disruptive Packaging for Uniqcor for cold chain environments.
A Special Commendation to Primo Foods for the Red Range Slice Pack was also awarded in the Food category.
The AIP also announced its 2020 Accessible Packaging Design Award, sponsored by Arthritis Australia and Arthritis New Zealand, which highlights packaging that is accessible, intuitive, easy-to-open and innovative. The design entry must include measuring techniques, understanding injuries caused by packaging and consumer satisfaction levels with packaging accessibility.
Ecolean took out top honours in the Accessible Packaging Design award. The winning pack is the Ecolean flexible pouch for the Bannister Downs Dairy WA chilled pasteurised range.
Ecolean worked with Bannister Downs Dairy to design innovative and lightweight beverage packaging that is certified as easy-to-open and easy-to-use by people with reduced hand function.
The Bannister Downs Dairy range has been designed with obvious opening points and the packaging is intuitive to use and open. As the design is shaped like a standard jug, a format well-known for containing and pouring liquids it is intuitive with the ‘tear off’ instructions near the tip of the pack to open the package. The opening tear operates as indicated along the dotted line. The tear-off spout makes the packages easy to open and empty with no need for the use of tools.
The design is also easy to grip, control and manoeuvre with the ‘Firm’ grip Air-filled handle offering stability to hold the package regardless of whether the person is left or right-handed. The shape offers controlled pouring with no drip and the lightweight nature of the design makes it easy to hold with one hand.
"Over the last decade, and thanks in large part to work by Arthritis Australia and Arthritis New Zealand, in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Packaging, we have seen an increasing number of companies take heed of the accessible design guidelines to hone the ease-of use functionality in their packaging design," Lindy Hughson commented.
"Our publications have been reporting on the Ecolean packaging since its debut in the Australian market and, apart from its unique sustainability attributes, its stand-out features of being lightweight, with an easy-to-grip handle and easy-pour functionality make it a boon for people with reduced hand function. I look forward to seeing more of this pack on shelves nationally in the future."
All 2020 PIDA winners will be automatically eligible for entry into the 2021 WorldStar Packaging Awards competition.
For the full list of winners from Day 1, click here.
The second round of 2020 PIDA winners will be announced on Thursday, 7 May starting at 10am. Categories to be announced are: Beverage, Sustainable Packaging, Young Packaging Professional and AIP Special Awards.
To join the virtual event, register here.
