PIDA 2023: Beverage Packaging Design of the Year

The Beverage Packaging Design of the Year award recognises organisations that have designed innovative packaging and/or materials, within packaging and processing for liquid or dry tea, coffee, water and soft drinks including wine, beer and spirits.

"Next to food, the beverage category has to be one of the most visibly creative in its presentation of packaging design, both in labels and primary containers, again with a strong focus on sustainability," said PKN managing editor & publisher Lindy Hughson, who was co-host of the 2023 PIDA awards.

"The designs moving successfully from shelf to trolley are those combining sustainability with functionality, visual appeal, clear on-pack messaging and smart packaging utility - thus engaging consumers in a crowded category where there is a veritable proliferation of new products, both in the alcoholic and non-alcoholic sector.

"The ground has certainly shifted for beverage bottlers in terms of consumer pushback on singleuse plastic, leading to a strong drive toward the use of post-consumer recycled plastic, a growing uptake of aluminium, and innovation in paper-based containers."

And the winners are...

The Bronze winner was Wine Protector by Planet Protector Packaging , while the Silver winner was Penley Sustainability Range by Cutler Brands

Topping the category with the Gold was Banrock Station Eco Bottle by Accolade Wines

About the Gold winner:

The Banrock Station bottle shape has taken a smart cross sectional design of a traditional Bordeaux wine bottle. This means that the bottle has the silhouette of a Bordeaux wine bottle face on, however, when turned to its side, it is flat. This innovative change in shape allows the same volume of wine (750ml) to be packed into a bottle that is 30 per cent more spatially efficient than it’s round, glass predecessor.

By being flat, and having a long neck, the bottle stands tall and proud on retail shelves. Banrock Station’s eco wine bottle is in fact slightly taller than round glass wine bottles when placed side-by-side.

The eco bottles are made from 100 per cent recycled PET (which is sourced in Australia) making them 84 per cent lighter than the average Australian round glass bottle.

In addition, the bottle has a key call out on the front of pack says 'Hey! I'm a 100 per cent recycled bottle'. The bottles use an active oxygen scavenger barrier technology to offer advanced shelf-life performance (19 to 21 months based on real-time and modelled data) over PET with no barrier.

The design offers significant lightweighting - the new pack is 63g, which is 84 per cent lighter than the average 400g glass bottle.

The pack offers spatial efficiency as the bottle flat packs like books, and means wine companies can fit up to 50 per cent more wine on an Australian pallet (1152 vs 768 round glass bottles). This design feature in turn drastically reduces freight costs and transport-related CO2 emissions.

The packaging provides a reduction in energy and emissions through production of material - virgin PET outperforms glass by producing 77 per cent less GHG emissions and using 59 per cent less energy to produce.