Gold Pack Trophy winner – The Extra CCCold Cooler box from Keypak for Castle Lite brand owner AB InBev A convenient, disposable, single-use cooler box designed for outdoor functions, braais and special occasions. The uniquely designed carton opens up, using a specialized hinge system to allow the full carton of beer to be engulfed in ice, unpinning the brand’s layer delivers a leak-proof carton and has been tested and proven fully recyclable.

Packs stars of the show at Gold Pack Awards 2024

AWARDS night for the 2024 Gold Pack Awards programme was a festive affair at the impressive Vodaworld auditorium in Midrand on 14 November. The larger attendance than usual, with close to 300 in their penguin suits and the ladies beautifully attired, showed that Covid is well and truly behind us … but that didn’t take any shine off the competing products, which were once again the stars of the show.

“The criteria for excellence in packaging are an evolving standard,” said Bill Marshall of Syndicate Graphics, the organiser of the Gold Pack Awards programme.

“Not many years ago, ‘Sustainable Packaging’ was a special award, and the judges needed to actively seek out the noteworthy packs demonstrating those attributes. Today, it’s expected that every entrant should be striving for responsible and sustainable packaging solutions.”

Plastics entrants have got semi-used to taking the Gold Pack Trophy, but that wasn’t the case this year. The 2024 winner was a unusual pack, the ‘Extra CCCCold Cooler Box’ from Keypak for AB InBev for Castle Light beer. In what may be a winner this summer, the pack is designed to flip open to allow ice to be added and is suited for outdoor events. It’s a carboard structure with a BOPP liner and is a single-use solution but is ratified as recyclable.

Further down the line, the plastics industry did well and took gold in a number of categories, including non-perishable food, where Constantia Flexibles won with a new pouch for Imana Sauces for brand owner Imana that has superb print quality; in the perishable food category, where Rotolabel won gold for its label for a Fairview cheese pack; MCC Label took gold in the non-alcoholic category with its label for a Woolworths Iced Tea range; in Household Products, Bowler Packaging backed up its win at the SAPRO Recycling Awards earlier this year with its redesigned ‘Safety First’ Bleach container for Shoprite-Checkers, which is produced with 100% rHDPE; Mpact Plastics Pinetown took gold in Health & Beauty with its IML Jars for Vida is Life; and the E-Tap – a ‘telescopic’ BIB (bag in a box) wine tap – got gold in the Packaging Related category for partners Flow Precision, Formtek Plastic Moulding, Industri-Bag and Shave & Gibson, the latter being the supplier of the box and serial winner at Gold Pack over the years.

That made it five wins out of the nine main categories.