Victorian start-up Great Wrap, once hailed as a leader in compostable packaging, has gone into liquidation with debts of more than A$39 million.
Founded in 2019 by Jordy and Julia Kay, Great Wrap developed stretch wrap made from food waste and potato starch as an alternative to fossil-based plastic film. The company attracted widespread attention for its sustainability credentials and secured millions in investment to expand its manufacturing facility in Melbourne.
Despite early success and strong media coverage, the business struggled to scale profitably. Rising production costs, slower-than-expected adoption, and tight funding conditions ultimately led to its collapse. According to reports, creditors include the Australian Taxation Office, suppliers, and former staff.
The failure highlights the harsh realities of commercialising sustainable materials in an industry dominated by low-cost petrochemical plastics. While the demand for eco-friendly alternatives is growing, achieving cost parity and reliable large-scale production remains a major hurdle for many start-ups.
Great Wrap’s closure follows a pattern seen across the sector, with Great Wrap reporting a shift away from compostable packaging for stretch wrap. Retailers and FMCG companies shifted strategy from replacing fossil-fuel plastics with compostable alternatives to vertically integrating their own plastic recycling operations. However, price must have been an important factor in the company’s demise. Domestic Great Wrap was sold by mail order for $5 a roll (2 x 30m rolls in a package) plus $5 postage. This works out at $7.50 a roll, more than twice the price of Glad Wrap, which you can pick up at major supermarkets. You’d need to be a committed environmentalist to pay these prices, and if you are a committed environmentalist, you probably aren’t using cling film anyway!
More seriously, though, the demise of Great Wrap is a tragedy. I have previously written about the quantity of wrap used to secure goods on pallets as they are transported around the world (Great Wrap made pallet wrap as well). Every year, the industry consumes enough wrap to reach the sun and back.. and probably again! Yes, hard to believe but true! Now, all that difficult-to-recycle wrap will continue to be made from fossil fuels.
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