The Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) unveiled the highly esteemed 2026 AmeriStar Award recipients and the 2026 Student AmeriStar Awards winners.
2026 AmeriStar Award Recipients
This year’s winning entries address challenges ranging from material reduction and recyclability to product protection, accessibility, manufacturing efficiency and consumer experience. The awards recognize packages across a range of markets and applications, reflecting the many ways packaging professionals are responding to changing business, consumer and environmental needs.
Best in Show
AeroFlexx, AeroFlexx Innovative Liquid Packaging Technology: Leading this year’s winners is AeroFlexx, which earned the competition’s highest honor, Best in Show, as well as awards in Design Excellence and Health and Beauty.
AeroFlexx combines attributes of flexible and rigid packaging in an all-in-one mono-material liquid package. The AeroFlexx Pak uses up to 85% less virgin plastic than traditional rigid bottle, cap and label alternatives through source reduction and the ability to incorporate recycled content. Its integrated self-sealing valve eliminates a separate cap or pump while providing controlled, one-handed dispensing and helping prevent spills and leaks.
The design also addresses the package beyond consumer use. Unfilled AeroFlexx Paks ship flat, occupying less than 10% of the space required to transport equivalent preformed empty rigid bottles. The format replaces the bottle, cap and label supply streams and is ISTA-6 Amazon approved for e-commerce distribution.
The result is a packaging system that connects structural design, consumer experience, supply chain efficiency and material reduction, earning AeroFlexx top recognition among the 2026 Professional AmeriStar winners.
Beverage (Non-Alcoholic)
Graphic Packaging International, EnviroClip Beam for Tudor Drinks' Harry Brompton’s Peach Iced Tea: This fiber-based multipack solution replaces plastic rings and shrink film while securely unitizing beverage cans for distribution and retail. The design combines material reduction with strong branding opportunities and an easy consumer experience, offering beverage brands a paperboard alternative for multipack applications.
Moldintec, Niagara Label-Free PET Bottle for Multipack:
Design Excellence
AeroFlexx, AeroFlexx Innovative Liquid Packaging Technology: By combining the squeezability and material efficiency of a flexible package with the shape retention and handling experience of a rigid bottle, AeroFlexx creates a distinctive structural format. Its integrated self-sealing valve, controlled dispensing and one-step opening make the package itself central to the consumer experience.
FusionPKG, Pure Needle Nose Airtight Tube: Precision That Performs: This compact beauty package integrates a one-way PE valve into a precision tube format of 15 milliliters or less. The valve opens during dispensing and reseals when pressure is released, pairing targeted application with added protection at the dispensing point.
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., By Kilian Angels' Share Paradis Fragrance: Inspired by fine cognac, the package pairs a faceted glass bottle resembling a crystal tumbler with an oakwood cap and renewable cork insert. Advanced glass-forming techniques create sharp, light-reflecting facets, while the cork replaces conventional plastic components without compromising closure performance. The result connects structural design, premium materials and brand storytelling in a package designed to be retained and reused.
Think B2B Marketing, Jack Daniel's x McLaren Halo MK1 Limited Edition: Inspired by the engineering principles of Formula 1's Halo safety device, this secondary package uses a concealed push-button mechanism to create a controlled bottle presentation. An aluminum framework suspends the bottle at its center of mass for protection during handling and display. Built from more than 50 engineered components using multiple materials and manufacturing processes, the design brings precision mechanics, structural engineering and the unboxing experience together in a collectible package.
Drug and Pharmaceuticals
Food (Refrigerated)
McCormick & Company Inc., Gourmet Garden Lightly Dried Herbs Renovation: McCormick replaced a PVC shrink sleeve with a clear polypropylene barrier in-mold label that integrates oxygen and UV protection while giving consumers a full view of the herbs inside. A square cup and interlocking cap improve stacking and merchandising, while the redesign eliminates a separate labeling operation and maintains performance through frozen distribution and refrigerated storage.
Food (Shelf-Stable)
Graphic Packaging International, Keurig Coffee Collective: This two-piece paperboard carton translates the refined appearance and opening experience of a rigid setup box into a recyclable folding-carton format. Made from 24-point solid unbleached sulfate paperboard, the structure conceals typical folding-carton closure features and arranges eight coffee pods for a controlled reveal, pairing premium presentation with practical converting and assembly.
Health and Beauty
Amcor, AmPrima Recycle Ready 150ml Refill Pouch: Amcor brings refill packaging to prestige beauty with a heat-resistant film designed to meet the APR Design® Guide for recyclability while maintaining barrier performance, seal integrity and premium aesthetics. One 150-milliliter pouch replaces three 50-milliliter rigid containers, resulting in up to 94% less plastic as calculated by L’Oréal.
Colgate-Palmolive, The Sculpted Swirl: A Custom-Engineered Shaped Orifice Cap for New hello Whipped Toothpaste: Developed through more than 50 rounds of prototyping and dispensing tests, the proprietary cap shapes the whipped toothpaste into a distinctive swirl while addressing the formula's functional needs. Its angled orifice also supports product suck-back to reduce residual paste, dry-out and clogging, while fitting within the existing cap footprint to avoid costly assembly-line changes.
Industrial and Commercial
Atkore Inc., Stainless Steel Conduit Packaging: Atkore replaced a labor-intensive fiberboard package for heavy stainless-steel conduit with a nail- and staple-free plywood crate that assembles in less than three minutes, compared with 15 minutes previously. The redesign also reduced reported product damage claims from three to five per month to zero over a 12-month period.
Redwood Materials Inc., Packaging Group 2 UN Rated Returnable Interlocking Tray Design for Lithium-Ion Batteries: Developed for end-of-life lithium-ion cells that remain electrically charged, this returnable HDPE system isolates individual cells and keeps stacking loads off them during transportation. Its interlocking trays also change stacking configuration between loaded and empty transport, supporting both hazardous-material protection and reverse-logistics efficiency.
Medical Device
Medtronic, Liberant Thrombectomy Kit Sterile Barrier Packaging System: Medtronic developed this universal sterile barrier system to accommodate four thrombectomy kit configurations using a single packaging platform. The foldable retainer gives clinicians access to components without fully exposing the contents, while testing indicated a 15% to 25% reduction in average setup time compared with conventional fully enclosed tray systems.
Prent Corporation, Zimmer Biomet G7 TM Packaging: Prent combines PETG and flexible TPU to protect abrasive-coated orthopedic implants that can damage conventional packaging. The universal retainer adapts to multiple implant sizes, while the right-sized system eliminates foam and polybags and reduces inner tray volume by approximately 37%.
Packaging that Saves Food
Sabert Corporation, Pulp Ultra: A Breakthrough in High-Performance, Compostable Foodservice Packaging: Sabert applies a proprietary PFAS-free barrier coating to molded fiber packaging to resist oil, grease and moisture in demanding foodservice applications. The containers withstand hot oil and grease up to 185 F, refrigerated storage for up to 30 days and frozen storage for up to one year, helping address packaging failures that can contribute to food waste.
Sustainable Packaging
NantBioRenewables, Wave Ware Ocean Calcium-Containing Compostable Protein Tray: Designed for fresh meat, poultry and seafood, the compostable tray combines a PLA-based biopolymer with Ocean Calcium Sand, a renewable aragonite mineral. The material reduces polymer usage by up to 20% while providing the rigidity, moisture resistance and cold-chain performance required of a protein tray.
Plastic Ingenuity, PET Medical Device Reel for a Healthcare Contract Manufacturer: Plastic Ingenuity replaced a welded PVC medical device reel with two interlocking thermoformed PET halves, eliminating specialized welding equipment and converting approximately 236,250 pounds of material into a recyclable format. The redesign also allows the reel halves to ship stacked for greater transportation and storage efficiency.
Sabert Corporation, r-PRO: Sustainable Foodservice Packaging Solutions: Sabert uses food-grade post-consumer recycled resin produced through its Nuvida recycling operation to create polypropylene foodservice packaging containing 25% PCR. A stone color replaces carbon black so the package can be detected by near-infrared sorting equipment, addressing a known barrier to plastics recovery.
The 2026 Professional AmeriStar winners will be recognized this fall during PACK EXPO International in Chicago.
We invite anyone attending PACK EXPO International, hosted Oct. 18-21 at McCormick Place in Chicago, to view the winning packages and vote for the onsite People’s Choice Award at our booth, N-4560, and the Showcase of Packaging Innovations, W-42004. All are welcome to attend our awards ceremony at the Industry Speaks stage, N-4544, on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 4 p.m. CDT.
Visit our website for more information and photos of the 2026 Student AmeriStar winners. To request package photos, contact [email protected].
