Page 18 - Packaging News magazine May-June 2022

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SUSTAINABILITY | www.packagingnews.com.au | May-June 2022
Where there’s wool, there’s a way
Multiple award-winner and Woolpack-innovator Planet Protector Packaging is waging a war against EPS waste in our waterways, winning awards along the way for both the company and its CEO & founder Joanne Howarth. Colleen Bate reports.
A new operation in South Australia’s wine country is now also on the cards, says Howarth.
“We are looking to set up near Adelaide Hills,” she explains, con- firming that the company is currently negotiating a site there to help PPP grow the Woolpack component of its business in that region.
“During Covid we began to focus on research and development in the wine industry. Since losing a lot of business due to China’s imposed tar- iffs on bottled Australian wine, the industry has been looking for new markets, and ways to differentiate itself by providing direct-to-con- sumer solutions,” says Howarth.
“Wine supply chains are sometimes long, and what may not be commonly known is that wines spoil in transit. When wines get too warm in the sup- ply chain, they can become bitter, so a lot of the wineries are also looking for solutions to maintain temperature stability,” she says, explaining that PPP’s Wine Protector range, which provides cushioning and temperature control to ensure the wine arrives at its destination in pristine condition, provides a packaging solution for local wine companies.
GAME-CHANGING FACILITY
PPP is establishing a $10 million, modern wool processing facility in
HEN Joanne Howarth first con- ceived the Woolpack solution as an insulated alternative to expanded polystyrene shipping containers, little did she know the global acclaim the company, and she herself, would achieve. Since 2020, Planet Protector
packaging (PPP) has garnered sev- eral significant awards and grants, and run a successful crowdfunding campaign, all of which have helped the company continue to expand its manufacturing operations and drive business growth.
Within Australia’s packaging industry, Woolpack is fast gaining a foothold. Used for temperature- sensitive foods, seafood, wine, and pharmaceuticals, the insulated pack- aging solution is made from 100 per cent waste wool, enclosed in a recy- clable or compostable food grade wrap, and then used to line the ship- ping carton. PPP has diverted this wool from landfill, monetised it and created a range of insulated packaging solutions that are now transforming supply chains across Oceania.
HORIZONS EXPAND
Apart from growing its NSW opera- tions, PPP has set up a Woolpack hub in Tasmania, and new hubs planned for South Australia and Victoria, with long term plans underway for operations to expand into Asia, beginning with India. Supported by a Boosting Female Founders Grant, PPP set up shop in Tasmania last year.
“Our Tasmanian hub was set up last year because we received a lot of interest in our Woolpack packaging in that region. As the food capital of Australia, it exports so many incred- ible products and although Brand Tasmania previously showed inter- est in Woolpack packaging, the freight to transport it from NSW was cost prohibitive. Being on the ground in Tasmania has given us an opportunity to offer our product more affordably to clients in this region – another step in the right direction to eliminate poly- styrene,” she says.
PPP is now working with the Brand Tasmania organisation and partnered with TasFoods to showcase Woolpack at Agfest in Hobart in May last year.
BELOW LEFT AND RIGHT: Planet Protector’s Woolpack solution is continuing to win awards and conquer markets, across food and pharmaceuticals.