Plant Fibre Pulp Hot & Cold Lids
WINS 2023 WORLDSTAR SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING SPECIAL AWARD
2023 WORLDSTARSUSTAINABILITY
SPECIAL AWARDGOLD WINNER

2023

Plant Fibre Pulp Hot & Cold Lids
BioPakKEY FEATURES

Meets 2025 National Packaging
Targets & Sustainable Packaging
Design Principles
Eliminate Hazardous Materials

Home & Commercially Compostable
AS4736 certifications (Commercial)& AS5810 (Home)
Plant-based renewable materials

Design for Recovery
 rovide Consumer Information onP
Sustainability

No Added PFA’s
Snap feel to hold the lid firmly
Unique lid design

Hot & Cold Lids

Based in Sydney, BioPak specialises in designing, producing anddistributing packaging made from rapidly renewable plant-basedmaterials. They are committed to adopting and promoting best practices
aligned with the triple bottom line: People, Planet, Profit.

REGIONAL AWARDS PROGRAM

AUSTRALIA

COORDINATED BY

WORLD
PACKAGING
ORGANISATION

2023 WORLDSTARSUSTAINABLE PACKAGINGSPECIAL AWARDSILVER WINNERNEW ZEALAND

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Plant Fibre Pulp Hot & Cold Lids
In the context of your award-winning packaging
innovation, what do you see as SustainablePackaging?

What benefit does this new design offer yourbusiness and your consumers? Why is the pack
more sustainable?

In a word – regenerative. For Richard Fine, Founder& Non-Executive Director of BioPak, sustainability
must take into account every stage in the lifecycle ofthe packaging – including raw material extraction,
converting and finally, recovery and recycling
resources. Richard says that in 2005, after a 15year career in plastic packaging, his perspective
and approach was forever changed after reading
the book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way wemake things. The book offers a holistic, economic,industrial, and social framework that seeks tocreate both efficient and waste-free systems. Thisframework, now evident in the ‘circular economy’,is found in the award-winning product design forsugar cane pulp moulded foodservice products.
For Richard, “reducing the amount of disposable
single-use packaging made from fossil fuel-based
plastic and replacing it with sustainably sourced,
rapidly renewable, or recycled materials is apriority.

With the same, functionality as conventional
plastic lids, BioPak’s new cold and hot cup lids areplastic-free and made from sugarcane pulp, also
known as bagasse, which is a rapidly renewable
resource and a by-product of the sugar refining
industry, which would otherwise go to waste. Unlike
plastic or polystyrene products, bagasse products
are industrially and home compostable. Under
composting conditions, bagasse will break down
into a nutrient-rich compost that can be usedas fertiliser and soil conditioner which in return
sequesters more carbon from the atmosphere,
helping to reverse climate change.

What would you say were the decision-making
drivers (Internal and External) influencing yourpackaging design?
As a business with a mission to reduce theenvironmental impact of plastic packaging, BioPak set
out to replace as many unnecessary and unrecyclable
plastic single-use disposables with sustainable andenvironmentally friendly alternatives. BioPak’s focus
is food packaging and over the years they have
expanded their portfolio of compostable materials andrefined and improved their pulp moulding capability.
As single-use plastic bans come in place acrossthe country, food service businesses are looking
for sustainable alternatives to conventional plastic
takeaway packaging. While environmentally friendly
hot and cold paper cups (BioCups) were a packaging
product already developed, there was a requirement
to complete the story by creating matching, fitting
lids for coffee roasters, cafes and QSR (quickservice restaurants) situations, like, Slurpees andmilkshakes. Staying ahead of single-use plasticbans and creating new, requested products for ourcustomers, BioPak used bagasse, also known assugarcane pulp, a fibrous material left behind in thesugarcane harvesting process to create their new
hot and cold cup lids.
2Plant Fibre Pulp Hot & Cold Lids
What volumes of materials, packaging andwaste have you saved by designing this newpackaging?
BioPak is the leader in planet-friendly packaging
and has made a commitment to removing any
plastic products from its range by 2023. Any
new products are designed with the planet frontof mind. BioPak is constantly investing in R&D
to make the most sustainable option available tocustomers. Consequently, redesigning our lids
using sugarcane was the natural next step.
Switching from single-use plastic packaging derived
from finite fossil resources to sugarcane packaging
makes a big difference: if a large QSR swapped out
10 million conventional plastic lids to sugarcane pulp
BioCane alternative they could avoid 37,400 kgs
of fossil-fuel plastics, offset 83,478 kgs of carbon
emissions and if all were composted at home, theorganic waste would create 25,900 kgs of nutrientrich soil which in return sequesters even more carbon
from the atmosphere, helping to reverse climatechange.
How much on-pack and off-pack information do
you provide your customers?
The packaging BioPak products come in detail on
the products in the box, as well the certifications
they hold like industrial and/or home compostable
logos, etc. The product code on the box can besearched on the website www.biopak.com.au tofind a complete list of specifications.

instead recover them to create rich compostingsoil. BioPak launched its first Compost Service in2017 to help make composting more accessiblefor its customers and has since evolved into a
not-for-profit, government-backed composting
network called Compost Connect.
CompostConnect aims to connect foodservice businesses
with industrial composters to divert compostable
packaging and food waste from landfill. BioPak
has dedicated team members who are constantly
working on strategies to re-educate the masses onfood recovery and connect their new and existingcustomers with Compost Connect so they canstart composting from the get-go.
What does your company have planned in thefuture? Any new innovations on the horizon?
Richard Fine, Founder, BioPak says, “At BioPak, wecontinue to grow and expand our range and reach –including Europe, the UK and Singapore. As we grow,we take an active role in engaging with consumers,brand owners, industry and government to share ourknowledge and vision for a world without waste.”
Richard says he is optimistic about the future – thepace of change and growing awareness of what isneeded to coexist in harmony with all living things
is accelerating rapidly. “We have the capability andcapacity to change the path to a circular economy.”

BioPak is working hard to print the compost
certifications directly onto the products to makeend-of-life disposal easier for the end consumer
and their sugarcane lids have ‘Compostable’
written on them.
What do you feel will be needed to further
improve packaging design in the future? (e.g.
education, investment, policy/legislation, tech,etc?)
One of BioPak’s main goals is to be a part of thebigger education piece for end-of-life disposal offood service packaging, composting and recycling.
Despite the numerous industrial composters
across the country, and councils offering residential
compost (FOGO) bins, there is still room for
improvement to keep organics out of landfill and3

2023 WINNERWORLDSTAR
PACKAGING AWARD

2023 WORLDSTARSUSTAINABILITY
SPECIAL AWARDGOLD WINNER

Plant Fibre Pulp Hot & Cold Lids
What does winning the Gold Sustainability Special Award mean to your business?
Gary Smith, Chief Executive Officer, BioPak who
was on a jetlag high during the evening added that,“Each day we come into BioPak with a passion forchange and a passion for sustainable improvementin our industry. There is little focus on anything else.
Working at a screen all day, working in a closed
environment not understanding the impact of what
we take for granted as our day-to-day, has a dangerof stuffing passion. Attending the WorldStar Awards
and being surrounded by so many innovators andchange makers was humbling and a boost to makeme excite all at our business into working harder andsmarter at continual improvement and sustainable
developments! We were humbled to be singled out in an evening to receive the coveted Goldfor the Sustainability special award, where there is so much good in overcoming mediocrity
and bad practices. Seeing so many new developments and innovations, and meeting so many
talented people was a privilege!”

WorldStar Packaging Awards
Owned & Operated by the World Packaging Organisation the WorldStarPackaging Awards is the preeminent awards program in the world.
Only packaging that has won recognition in a recognised national orregional competition, either in the present year or the previous year iseligible to apply for WorldStar Competition. Currently, 73 competitions
from 39 countries and regions are recognised by WPO as qualifying forentry to the WorldStar Packaging Awards program.
There are 18 General award categories and 5 special awards including
Accessible Packaging Design, Marketing, Sustainable Packaging Design,
Packaging that Saves Food and the President’s Award.

WorldStar Special Award - Sustainability
The WorldStar Sustainable Packaging Design Special Awardis designed to recognise companies that have developed innovative
packaging solutions that incorporate sustainability considerations. All
entries are judged on Sustainable Packaging Design considerations
such as social impact, material, source reduction, energy and recovery.
www.worldstar.org

About The World Packaging Organisation
WORLDPACKAGINGORGANISATION

The World Packaging Organisation is a non-profit, non-governmental,
international federation of national packaging institutes and associations,regional packaging federations and other interested parties including
corporations and trade associations.
www.worldpackaging.org
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