SIG and Hill-Smith Family Estates have been recognised 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.
This 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 its 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 ANZ Head of Marketing & Sustainability Carmen Houston said: “These awards highlight the impact of genuine industry partnerships. Delivering Australia’s first recycle-ready bag-in-box wine packaging has only been possible through deep collaboration. Working with Hill-Smith Family Estates enabled us to provide the industry with meaningful packaging improvements. We are honoured that WISA has recognised its significance.”
Hill-Smith Family Estates CEO Karl Martin said: “This recognition reflects Hill Smith Family Estates commitment to advancing sustainable packaging through collaboration. Sustainability is central to our future, and packaging plays a crucial role in that journey. Partnering with SIG to help commercialise this innovation allows us to accelerate meaningful change for both our business and the wider industry. We are incredibly proud to be recognised alongside them.”
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.
SIG and Hill-Smith Family Estates bring Australia’s first recycle-ready bag-in-box packaging for wine to market.
