Page 53 - Packaging News Magazine Nov-Dec2020

DECADES IN REVIEW | PKN 60 YEARS SPECIAL
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CARDBOARD CARTEL
In the biggest packaging story this decade to hit the mainstream press, the cardboard carton sector is rocked by news of Australia’s most notorious cartel scandal as reports emerge in late 2004, early 2005 of Visy and Amcor’s collusion to fix prices in the cardboard box market. Amcor, the whistleblower, is granted immunity by the ACCC and cardboard king, Richard Pratt, and the Visy Group go on to pay a record $36 million fine. Cartel victims proceed with class action claims to the tune of hundreds of millions over the next few years.
establishment business interests have had the ear of the Prime Minister on this topic for so long”. [Some things never change.]
◆ ACI operations announces the condi- tional sale of the substantial part of ACI’s plastic packaging business in Australia and New Zealand to Visy Industrial Plastics.
◆ Cadbury adopts Plantic’s biodegradable plastic for its Milk Tray Deluxe Selection.
2005
◆ Signum moves to the forefront as a sup- plier of environmentally sustainable pack- aging solutions in Australasia with its $10 million investment in a post-consumer PET recycling facility.
◆ Canmaker Irwin & Sheehan expands its product portfolio to include composite cans, making it the only Australian canmaker to manufacture both steel and composite cans. ◆ Colorpak launches an innovative packag- ing service for Australia’s pharmaceutical industry, where a suite of packaging ele- ments can be sourced, certified and deliv- ered in one complete solution.
◆ Manufacturers using rigid plastic in pack- aging edge towards greener options, driven by Australia’s National Packaging Covenant on the one hand, and by global growth in consumer sentiment favouring greener packaging formats on the other.
◆ Detmold Packaging Group, based in Adelaide, acquires the Charles Gabb Flexible Packaging business.
2006
◆ Germany’s Schütz formalises a new part- nership deal with Australia’s DSL Packaging, following Schütz’s acquisition of a majority interest in the Australian industrial packag- ing company [see Schütz profile, page 88]. ◆ Henkel Group guarantees its long-term presence in Australia with a $10 million investment in its new Australia and New Zealand headquarters and an expanded tech- nology and production centre in Melbourne. ◆ Shelfready?Notlikely...Shelfreadypack- aging (SRP) is making a slow start.
PKN reports the real barrier to SRP is the inability of retailers to define what their SRP expectations are, apart from cutting cost out of the last 100 metres of the supply chain. ◆ Sew-Eurodrive, the German head-quar- tered global power transmission and motor experts, celebrates 75 years in business. A year later it will mark a quarter of a century in Australia.
◆ In the flexibles packaging sector, Aperio acquires Finewrap.
◆ Australianfoodandbeveragecompanies, NPC signatories, and government agencies partner with the Sustainable Packaging Alliance to develop a prototype rapid pack- aging environmental impact assessment tool, known as PIQET. The software applica- tion goes on to be launched in 2008.
2007
◆ Amcor unwraps a billion-dollar turn- around plan as its company-wide restruc- ture gathers pace. With another year still to run, Amcor’s so-called ‘fix, sell or close’ pro- gram has resulted in the closure of 12 plants inter – nationally, including four in Australia, and the sell-off of its European PET business and Australasian food and aerosol can division to Impress Group.
◆ Plain packaging for cigarettes is looking more likely, according to a research report from The Cancer Council. By 2010, Australia’s proposed plain cigarette packaging bill will make news headlines around the world.
◆ PKN launches an innovation award that recognises the best new product and/or man- ufacturing process at trade show AUSPACK. The inaugural winner is Matthews Intelligent Identification (today Matthews Australasia), for its Solaris Fibre Laser technology.
2008
◆ The PACIA 2007 National Plastics Recycling survey results show that during 2006, Australian industry and consumers recycled a record 30.5 per cent of plastic packaging for the second consecutive year. ◆ Concern for the environment combined with a universal drive to cut costs is fuelling market demand for progressively lighter PET containers. Every tenth of a gram less per bottle delivers big material and cost sav- ings. Krones launches a world-record 8.8g 500ml PET container, the lightest of its kind in that volume category.
◆ Darrell Lea wins the ‘purple’ case against multinational confectionery giant Cadbury, which claimed that Darrell Lea’s use of the colour had infringed its rights.
2009
◆ Food labelling standards are to be reviewed by the federal government as concerns con- tinue to rise over false health claims.
◆ Owens-Illinois (previously ACI) launches its Lean+Green range of lightweight, wine bottles. Lean+Green goes on to collect a raft of awards, both locally and abroad, in 2009 and 2010.
◆ The Australasian Bioplastics Association launches the seedling logo to help consum- ers identify certified compostable packag- ing materials.
◆ Planet Ark and Carbon Trust launch the Carbon Reduction Label in Australia, invit- ing businesses to join the scheme.
◆ In keeping with the international trend towards in-line blow-fill technology in the beverage sector, Coca-Cola Amatil confirms its plans to install a $45 million blow-fill manufacturing plant for PET bottles at its Northmead, NSW facility.
NEW TOPS FOR TIPPLE
Wine closures see some important changes. In 2002, wine screw caps take off in the UK and Australia. In 2003, ACI launches a new range of wine bottles in Australia designed for screwcap closures instead of traditional corks; and CSIRO commercialises its SICOR polymer- bonding technology for a range of packaging applications, the first being plastic wine corks.
www.packagingnews.com.au | November–December 2020