Page 18 - Packaging News Sep-Oct 2020

18 PEOPLE IN PACKAGING | www.packagingnews.com.au | September-October 2020
Big passion, big impact
Founder and CEO of Planet Protector Packaging Joanne Howarth is no stranger to success. Her young company’s flagship product has won multiple awards, and she was recently named Cartier Laureate for South Asia and Oceania. Now the Woolpack warrior is embarking on the next set of ventures to advance the sustainable packaging
Pcause. Lindy Hughson reports.
LANET Protector Packaging (PPP) was founded four years ago with the mission to eliminate polystyrene in cold chain packaging by using in its place a packag- ing solution incorporating sheep wool waste as the insulating material.
As Howarth relates, the driving force for its establishment was winning a contract as the outsource partner for one of Australia’s largest meal kit companies to handle food delivery logistics. At the time the customer was shipping its meal kits in polystyrene boxes around the country.
Howarth was unhappy, she knew they had to make a material change and fast.
“There were toxic fumes from the poly- styrene that would come into the ware- house, it took up so much space as well, not to mention the negative impact on the envi- ronment,” she says.
In scouring the globe for a more sustain- able solution, Howarth was inspired by an innovation she found that leveraged the thermalpropertiesofwool.Shecallsit “nature’s smart fibre”; wool was the answer Howarth was looking for. She tweaked the idea and developed a packaging solution suitable for Australia’s long hot summer days, aptly named Woolpack, which would become the flagship brand for the newly formed company.
We’re finalising our blueprint for expansion into Tasmania. We’re identifying a location for our site and plan to be operational in early 2021.”
everything from abalone, lobsters, berries, dairy, and vegetables to both the mainland and abroad. We’re finalising our blueprint for expansion into Tasmania. We’re identifying a location for our site and plan to be opera- tional in early 2021,” Howarth tells PKN.
On the home front, the company is in the final stages of getting investment-ready to raise capital for its expansion into South East Asia, with an initial focus on Singapore, Indonesia, and Japan. Through Howarth’s Cartier Laureate win, the business has con- nected with numerous impact investors keen to be involved in the company’s growth.
Woolpack warrior: Joanne Howarth, CEO and founder, Planet Protector Packaging
“Wool is the best insulator on the planet – it keeps sheep warm in winter and cool in summer,” Howarth says. “We’ve created a patented technology where the blend of the fibres that gives the wool its thermal perfor- mance can be used.”
Since its inception PPP has prevented 5.2 million polystyrene boxes from entering landfill, and the rapid growth of the busi- ness has seen accounts such as DHL, Blackmores and Baxter Pharmaceuticals added to its customer portfolio.
Within 18 months of starting, the eco- friendly packaging business had taken out two awards in the 2017 Packaging Innovation and Design Awards (PIDA), represented Australia at the WorldStar Packaging Awards,andwonacrossfourcategories.This year, its Lobster Protector pack took out the Gold PIDA award in the food packaging cat- egory, and shortly afterwards Howarth her- self scooped the Cartier Women’s Initiative award for this region, a prize that included US$100,000 to invest in the business.
EXPANDING HORIZONS
What’s next on the horizon for Howarth and her passionate team? Tasmania, she says, is the first port of call.
Tasmania is set to become a sustainable packaging giant as part of a plan to transform Australia’s manufacturing industries and cre- ate an advanced packaging hub in the state. PPP will be a key player in this development.
“We have established strong demand from companies operating in Tasmania that export
“As part of the expansion, we are looking to vertically integrate the supply chain and to establish a manufacturing base to service the Asian market,” Howarth says.
The plan is to retain operations in Sydney and in Auckland. Sales are growing in the locations, driven primarily by consumers’ increasing reliance on e-commerce due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With summer just around the corner, the company is geared to help businesses grow their market share by ensuring compliance and food safety for transit during hot temperatures.
“We are shipping everything from choco- late, dairy, juices and artisan goods, to pro- biotics and seafood,” Howarth says.
In addition, PPP is currently working with United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in Mongolia, whose focus is on sustainable local industry devel- opment in countries that may not have ready access to the global market.
“We intend to be able to service the whole of Asia from this new base working with UNIDO,” Howarth says.
And to add another leaf to Howarth’s lau- rel,PPPwasrecentlyfeaturedasacasestudy in WWF Australia’s Plastic Revolution to Reality report, which resulted in a video post by Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management Trevor Evans, lending his support to all initiatives that reduce plastic impact on our oceans.
“This is an incredible acknowledgement of our work to date,” Howarth says. And, PKN predicts, it will not be the last. ■