Page 36 - Food & Drink Magazine July 2018

PACKAGING INNOVATION
✷ WORLD STARS FOOD-SAVING
SUPERHEROES
The 2018 WorldStar Save Food Packaging Special Award winner was announced at the 2018 AIP National Conference, with one of Australia’s own PIDA winners taking home the top prize.
Sealed Air New Zealand was awarded the gold award for its Fresh Technologies Ltd and Sealed Air Cryovac Freshness Plus design, which was developed for a
New Zealand company. It has enabled the company to extend the freshness of avocado and reduce product spoilage by 7.2 tonnes. A 90-day shelf life supports wider distribution and the three per cent growth in global consumption. Extended shelf life ensures less harvests end up in landfill, including
the resources used during harvesting.
Another PIDA award winner, Woolcool Australia, was also
shortlisted in the same category and given the bronze Special Award. Woolcool (featured on
our cover this month) keeps food packed at
1°C chilled below 5°C for at least 24 hours. When the
wool is enclosed in a micro- perforated, food-grade liner, the wool can ‘breathe’. The Woolcool liners are recyclable and biodegradable and the wool is compostable. The wool insulation provides optimum temperature stability during transit.
TOP PROFESSIONAL
Wellman Packaging CEO Craig Wellman was recognised as the industry’s Packaging Professional of the Year for
his achievements.
The judges looked for an individual who has demonstrated vision and leadership, shows innovation, and is not afraid to take risks. Wellman, a Fellow of the AIP, has demonstrated innovative packaging leadership in plastics technology and injection moulded components.
Involved in the family business since the age of six, he has led his company to become a Tier 1 supplier of rigid packaging solutions for FMCG in the dynamic food, beverage, pharmaceutical, home care, and personal care market sectors.
INSPIRING YOUNG LEADER
Omniverse Foster Packaging
director Regan Foster was the deserving winner of the Young Packaging Professional of the Year Award.
The award provides incentive and recognition to young professionals who are both currently working in and wish to continue their career path within the industry.
Foster has received an enrolment into Leadership Management Australia’s ‘The Performance Edge’ – a 10-week development program valued at $3750.
Foster joined Foster Packaging five years ago with “no prior knowledge of flexible packaging”. He now deals with the many challenges of being in a young start-up business.
A $9K EDUCATION BOOST
Primo Smallgoods’ Nathan Leong was granted the APPMA Scholarship to assist him further in his education through a Diploma in Packaging Technology to the value of $9000.
Leong is a packaging and product technologist and holds a Bachelor of Applied Science Degree with a major in Food Science and Nutrition.
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COUNTRIES WERE REPRESENTED AT THE WORLDSTAR PACKAGING AWARDS
The judges believe that giving Leong this opportunity will provide diverse technical knowledge to add value to his current place of employment, in both areas of production and packaging.
NZ SCHOLARSHIP STAR
Jaco Scheepers, a packaging technologist at Synlait Milk, has been given the chance to
ABOVE LEFT: A lamb processing system developed by Scott Automation & Robotics, in conjunction with Silverfern Farms and Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), was recognised in the awards.
TOP: A biofoam food delivery flatbox from ICEE.
ABOVE: The winning CDSA vision and sorting machine.
build on his skills through a Packaging Council of New Zealand Scholarship. Scheepers will enrol in the Diploma in Packaging Technology, valued
at $9000.
According to the judges,
Scheepers has always had an interest in polymer materials, additives and plastic conversion processes, especially in flexible packaging.
Scheepers says he would like to broaden his knowledge across a range of different packagingmaterials. ✷
The PIDA awards are co- ordinated by the Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP), the Australian Packaging
& Processing Machinery Association (APPMA) and Packaging New Zealand.
36 | Food&Drink business | July 2018 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au