Packamama launches in SA with Polyoak, Safripol

PACKAMAMA, the multi-award-winning sustainable wine packaging company, has recently announced the launch of its South African manufacturing operations in collaboration with two of the continent’s market leaders, namely Polyoak, one of Southern Africa’s leading packaging manufacturers, and Safripol, one of South Africa’s leading polymer producers.

The announcement follows a successful period of ‘stealth’ production in Cape Town, which took place following Cape Wine 2025. With the focus intentionally left on South African wine during the biennial wine industry trade fair, Packamama has chosen to formally announce the launch and partnership at the end of the year.

Packamama’s iconic eco-flat wine bottle is now proudly manufactured in Cape Town using South African recycled PET (rPET) resin supplied by Safripol and produced at Polyoak’s world-class facility. The bottles deploy Packamama’s bespoke material stack, specifically engineered to protect wine quality and shelf-life while delivering a substantially lower carbon footprint than traditional glass.

The collaboration also actively supports Safripol’s ‘Let’s Plastic Responsibly’ recycling campaign, reinforcing the role of properly collected and recycled plastic as part of a circular economy.

Crucially, the initiative keeps manufacturing and bottling jobs local, ensuring value remains within South Africa’s packaging ecosystem rather than being exported offshore.

Since commencing production, Packamama has already successfully manufactured a six-figure volume of bottles, achieving consistent, high-quality output and demonstrating readiness to scale. The company is now welcoming interest from South African producers and international retailers seeking sustainable, locally made wine packaging solutions.

Packamama’s eco-flat bottle is already known across ten international markets and has won multiple awards for sustainability, design and performance. The South African launch marks a significant step in the company’s strategy to localise production in major wine-producing regions.

South Africa is currently the world’s seventh-largest wine producer (OIV, Nov 2025) and the sixth most popular wine country among UK consumers (WSTA, Dec 2025), making local manufacturing of next-generation wine bottle packaging both strategically and economically compelling.

Santiago Navarro, CEO & Founder of Packamama, said: “This is exactly how we believe sustainable packaging should scale – locally made, commercially proven, and built with worldclass partners. Polyoak and Safripol represent the best of South African packaging and polymers, and together we are showing that you can protect wine quality, protect jobs, and slash emissions at the same time.

Producing Packamama bottles in Cape Town, using South African recycled PET, is something we are incredibly proud of. We have already proven the quality at scale, and we are excited to welcome more producers into this next chapter for South African wine.”

www.packamama.com
www.polyoakpackaging.co.za
www.safripol.com