At a biennial packaging tradeshow in New Zealand, Foodtech Packtech, executive director of Australasian Institute of Packaging (AIP) noted her highlights.
By Author Nerida Kelton FAIP, Executive Director AIP – Vice President Sustainability & Save Food – WPO
Roaming the halls of a tradeshow is always one of my favourite things to do as you get the opportunity to see what is new and innovative in the world of packaging.
I recently attended the biennial Foodtech Packtech tradeshow in Auckland, New Zealand, which was sold-out, and saw participation from 240 exhibitors.
Wandering the halls, I not only discovered some stand out packs but soon realised that many of the solutions were either made by small local businesses in New Zealand, or in Australia especially for Aotearoa. It was refreshing to see custom-made solutions designed for the New Zealand markets.
NZ’s 100 per cent recycled content pallet wrap: Rewrapt
New Zealand-owned business Stretchwrap launched the new Rewrapt 100 per cent recycled content pallet wrap at the event.
Rewrapt is the first pallet wrap in New Zealand to incorporate recycled content and also maintain high-stretch and strong puncture resistance so that the goods are not compromised. By incorporating recycled content, Rewrapt enables customers to lower their environmental footprint and reduce the amount of single-use plastic wrap used in their facilities. Winning the People’s Choice Award at the inaugural Sustainability Spotlight Awards held at FoodTech PackTech 2025, Rewrapt is a more sustainable solution for the New Zealand market.
Award-winning packaging, engineered in New Zealand: Forward Plastics
Sometimes when you walk down an aisle something will grab your attention and make you stop. Usually for me it is a robot, or a moving machine, or a really cool packaging format. In this instance it was two gorgeous trophies – an Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design (PIDA) trophy and an equally attractive blue WorldStar Packaging Award trophy. The trophies were on the Forward Plastics stand, as they were the business behind the material that formulated the only WorldStar award-winning pack for 2025 in New Zealand for Apex Brands Only Good range of personal care products.
Forward Plastics worked with the team at Apex Brands to create a recyclable, refillable and reusable bottle that is made with a blend of sugar cane and recyclable plastic that has been sourced in New Zealand.
Bottle design, material and finish were carefully considered utilising a range of different HDPE options, such as sugar cane HDPE and recycled HDPE across all products.
I spent some time on the stand also looking at some of the other sustainable solutions that are offered by Forward Plastics, and I was really excited to see the creativity and innovation from so many small businesses in New Zealand.
Forward Plastics is a New Zealand-owned company based in Auckland. Since 2018, the business has repurposed more than 1.2 million kilograms of New Zealand kerbside recycled milk bottles into high-quality packaging.
It is an expert in recycled and bio-based plastics, post-consumer recycled HDPE and PP and renewable bio-resins and it will work with businesses, just like its did with Apex Brands to create award-winning sustainable packaging.
Fibre-based thermal insulator & shock protectant: Visycell
I had heard about Visycell previously, but I had never seen a sample in real life. Visycell is an Australian-designed fibre-based thermal insulated, shock protectant pack that eliminates the need to use Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) boxes. What makes this pack stand out is that it is a kerbside recyclable solution, using recycled content and designed to withstand harsh cold chain environments in our region.
Interestingly a Lifecycle Assessment was undertaken on Visycell comparatively against a traditional EPS carton. Visycell offers a lower environmental impact across greenhouse gas emissions, lower water usage, and less burden on the aquatic environment should it be littered or end up in the waterways.
Suitable for wet environments the solution comes in a range of thicknesses making it flexible and adaptable to suit anything from fresh produce to seafood, wine to pharmaceuticals, personal care to meat. Visycell ticks the boxes for ecommerce and home-delivery.
NZ kerbside-compliant paper rewind solution: ADM & Detpak
I always love to visit Detpak stands to see what new fibre-based, suitable solution it has for fresh produce and the samples I saw did not disappoint. I was especially interested in the Perfection Fresh fibre-based, kerbside recyclable punnets for tomatoes and strawberries.
The standout solution on the Detpak stand was a moving ADM piece of equipment that had a kerbside recyclable fibre-based potato bag being showcased in real-time.
Officially launched for the first-time at Foodtech Packtech 2025, Detpak introduced a commercially viable paper rewind solution that is 100 per cent New Zealand Kerbside Compliant. The new paper rewind solution is suited for products that do not require extended shelf life, or where the contents are already pre-packaged, such as fresh produce including potatoes, carrots, and onions, as well as confectionery items like wrapped sweets, crisps, and biscuit multipacks.
The Detpak & ADM solution stood out to me because it showed how the kerbside recyclable fibre-based potato packaging intersects with the ADM system to offer more sustainable systems-approached solutions. The new solution has also been designed to eliminate the need for any barrier or lining to achieve heat sealability.
The intuitive packaging system not only streamlines adoption and implementation for any company looking for a more sustainable kerbside recyclable alternative to say traditional potato packaging, but for fresh produce and confectionary.
Walking the Foodtech Packtech halls was a great opportunity to see what is happening in New Zealand and I have to say there were a lot of exceptional packs that should be entered in the Australasian Packaging Innovation &Design (PIDA) awards for the 2026 round. I would love to see more New Zealand companies and people entering the PIDA awards as they deserve the recognition for all their hard work.