Recycle-Ready, Bag-in-Box Wine Packaging Wins Sustainability, Design Awards

SIG and Hill-Smith Family Estates have been recognized with both the Packaging & Design Award and the Sustainability Award at the 2025 Wine Industry Impact Awards for their collaboration to bring Australia’s first recycle-ready, bag-in-box packaging for wine to market.

The dual recognition comes during a landmark year for the Wine Industry Suppliers Association (WISA), which is celebrating 25 years of championing innovation, collaboration, and technical excellence throughout the wine industry.

The transition to a recycle-ready, bag-in-box packaging solution is made possible using a bag made of SIG Terra RecShield, a mono-material film with a newly formulated polymer structure that replaces the conventional multi-layer structure typically used in bag-in-box packaging. This allows the bag, tap, and carton to meet Australia’s recyclability criteria and align with the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organization (APCO) and Australia’s 2025 National Packaging Targets.

In their assessment, the WISA judging panel described the solution as “a landmark advancement for wine packaging sustainability, combining technical excellence, industry collaboration, and measurable environmental benefits to set a new national standard for recyclable design.”

The innovation was developed and manufactured at SIG’s Adelaide facility in close partnership with Winesmiths, a Hill-Smith Family Estates-owned brand and leader in the cask wine category for over four decades. 

SIG Group and Hill-Smith Family Estates plan to build on the momentum from the awards as Winesmiths prepares to launch the new recycle-ready pack to Australian shelves in early 2026.

Packamama Awarded Grant to Decarbonize Australian Wine Packaging

The Australian Government has awarded Packamama AU$1 million (~£500,000) under the Business Research and Innovation Initiative (BRII) Proof-of-Concept Round to develop next-generation, circular polymer wine bottles that protect wine quality, cut carbon emissions, and strengthen the competitiveness of Australian wine at home and abroad.

This follows the AU$100,000 (~£50,000) feasibility grant previously awarded under BRII, which funded Packamama’s initial study demonstrating technical viability and emissions savings.

The project, which received Grant Funding from the Australian Government, builds on Packamama’s success in that feasibility stage, where simulations and laboratory studies indicated wine preservation potential of around four years using advancements in its proprietary material stack. Independent life cycle analyses confirmed that Packamama’s bottles cut emissions by more than half compared to traditional glass bottles, while being lighter, shatterproof, and fully recyclable through existing systems.

As just one of two Proof-of-Concept recipients selected from six Feasibility-stage participants under the Alternative Packaging for Australian Wine challenge, Packamama sees this as a clear vote of confidence in its mission to excite consumers and decarbonize wine through design and technology. Over the next 18 months, the company will validate its bottle innovations through material trials, recyclability testing, and consumer research. Retail collaborations are being explored in both Australia and the UK, where prior listings with Coles in Australia and Tesco and Aldi in the UK have demonstrated strong shopper engagement and repeat purchase rates.

According to the Australian Wine Research Institute’s (AWRI) 2022 life cycle assessment (LCA), 74 percent of the wine industry’s total emissions stem from the making, moving, and recycling of glass bottles. A 2025 LCA by the AWRI’s Affinity Labs found that Packamama bottles can cut emissions by up to 56 percent and that exporting wine in Packamama bottles produces 32 percent less CO₂ than bulk export, proving a major opportunity to decarbonize Australia’s 1.5 billion-bottle-a-year sector while protecting jobs in Australia.

The work directly supports Wine Australia’s Emissions Reduction Roadmap, targeting a 42 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and net zero by 2050, while aligning with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s pledge at the recent UN Climate Summit in New York for Australia to reduce emissions by up to 70 percent by 2035.

“Being selected by the Australian Government and Wine Australia to help lead the industry’s packaging transition is deeply motivating,” said Santiago Navarro, CEO & Founder of Packamama. “It is proof that innovation in materials, design, and technology can protect wine and the planet in equal measure. Together, we can make the wine bottle part of the climate solution, not the problem.”

Packamama welcomes engagement from producers, retailers, and supply-chain partners to collaborate as it advances this next phase of sustainable, circular wine packaging innovation.

Fedrigoni Advances Circularity with Wash-Off Labels for Glass Bottles

Fedrigoni Self-Adhesives is reinforcing its commitment to sustainable packaging with its wash-off label solution, designed to support glass circularity in the wine, spirits and craft beer sectors.

Designed with Fedrigoni’s premium FW8000 wash-off adhesive and Sorolla H+O WS facestock, the product offers the durability brands require in challenging environments, from refrigeration to ice buckets, while ensuring labels detach cleanly during the washing process for effortless bottle reuse.

“Circular design is no longer optional — it’s essential,” shared Melissa Harton, Marketing Manager North America. “With our wash-off solution, wineries and beverage brands can maintain the luxurious look consumers expect, while enabling efficient glass reuse and minimizing waste.”

Sorolla H+O WS / FW8000 / 1.2 mil PET supports sustainability without compromising premium performance:

• Premium look and feel: Maintains the elegance of wine and spirits labels throughout their lifecycle.
• Clean removal: Labels release fully in an alkaline bath at 176°F with no adhesive residue.
• Glass reuse enabled: Bottles are ready for recirculation, supporting wineries’ environmental commitments.

To strengthen this circular ecosystem, Fedrigoni’s wash-off solution can be paired with innovative partners like Revino, whose bottle reuse system ensures efficient collection, washing, and redistribution of wine bottles. Together, these solutions help the industry reduce waste and keep materials in use at their highest value.

SupplyOne Highlights Comprehensive Suite of Packaging Solutions for Wineries

SupplyOne, Inc., a value-added North American packaging distributor with custom converting capabilities, highlights its comprehensive suite of winery packaging solutions designed to help vineyards, wineries, and wine clubs better protect their products, streamline operations, and strengthen brand loyalty. Developed for the unique demands of wine production and fulfillment, these solutions bring together protective packaging, branding, and automation to support growth-minded producers from bottling line to club delivery.

At the core of the offering is a range of corrugated and protective packaging options engineered specifically for wine shipments. SupplyOne provides custom wine shipping boxes in multiple bottle configurations, along with molded pulp inserts that stabilize bottles in transit and support sustainability goals. Retail-ready packaging for gift sets and tasting room displays further help wineries enhance shelf presence while using recyclable, curbside-friendly materials that appeal to environmentally conscious consumers.