From 48 to 208 e-bike batteries per pallet: why corrugated board is winning in 2026

A few days ago, a Smurfit Westrock post on LinkedIn caught our attention. The company had again been named among TIME’s World’s Best Companies.

That recognition was not about corrugated packaging — but it made us look wider. What we found was much more interesting for our industry: in 2026, Smurfit Westrock collected 15 WorldStar packaging awards, DS Smith 11 and Mondi 9.

WorldStar Awards 2026 ceremony in Düsseldorf. DS Smith, Mondi and Smurfit Westrock are among the major corrugated packaging companies featured in this corruga.expert review.

The bigger story is not the trophies. It is what judges are rewarding.

Corrugated board is increasingly being recognised for pallet density, lower material use, fewer truck movements, higher compression strength, faster packing, premium print and shorter development cycles.

We reviewed more than a dozen award-winning companies and projects. The pattern is clear: corrugated board is being judged as engineering, not just as packaging material.

The numbers that caught our attention

48 → 208 batteries per pallet — DS Smith.

+45% compression strength — Dynapac.

–9.1% packaging cost — Smurfit Westrock.

About 280 more packages per truck — Nefab.

–7.3% paper — Tailim Packaging + OTOKI.

Those are not abstract sustainability slogans. They are published results behind award-winning corrugated projects.

A note on the data: most performance figures below come from company case studies or award submissions. They show what was entered and rewarded, but corruga.expert has not independently audited them.

Who is giving these awards — and why does it matter?

WorldStar — organised by the World Packaging Organisation (WPO), which has run the international packaging innovation programme since 1970.

FIA UK — recognises excellence across flexographic print and converting.

FTA Excellence in Flexography — a US competition that attracted more than 250 entries in 2026; only three awards went to the corrugated segment.

German Packaging Award — more than 200 companies from 17 countries entered in 2026, with 36 winners selected across ten categories.

Different juries. Different criteria. The same signal: corrugated board is increasingly being rewarded for engineering, logistics, print and process efficiency.

Who won the most?

Smurfit Westrock — 15 WorldStars: logistics, cost, material substitution and print.

DS Smith — 11 WorldStars: transit efficiency, corrugated replacement of foam and faster point-of-sale assembly.

Mondi — 9 WorldStars: EPS replacement, e-commerce, electronics and material efficiency.

Tomoku — 6 WorldStars, the highest number among Japanese companies that year: heavy-duty corrugated, converting simplicity and material savings.

Rondo Ganahl — 5 WorldStars: transit, point of sale, polystyrene replacement and premium packs.

Award counts are not a market-share ranking. But they are a useful signal of what independent juries, converters and brand owners increasingly consider valuable.

Editorial illustration based on published DS Smith / WorldStar project data: redesigned corrugated transit packaging for Cowboy increased pallet density from 48 to up to 208 smaller packed e-bike batteries on the same pallet footprint, with corrugated inserts replacing EPS.

The cases that say the most about where corrugated is going

1. DS Smith: from 48 to 208 packed e-bike batteries on one pallet

Imagine the same pallet carrying 48 batteries — and then 208.

DS Smith redesigned transit packaging in Hungary for two sizes of Cowboy e-bike batteries. These are not loose batteries: each one is individually packed for transport.

The previous system used one format for both battery sizes and relied on EPS foam inserts. Once packed, only 48 units fit on one pallet.

DS Smith created two compact paper-based transport packs using corrugated cardboard inserts. The result: 208 smaller packaged batteries or 192 larger packaged batteries on the same pallet footprint.

The e-bike project won a WorldStar 2026 in the Transit category. According to the WorldStar submission, the new packaging is 100% recyclable, paper-based and plastic-free. Across the two battery sizes, DS Smith reports 9.62 tonnes less CO₂e, 2,691 kg less material and 10,000 fewer plastic pieces.

Packaging designer László Kerekes described the idea simply (translated from Hungarian): “We designed a compact, easy-to-assemble package that is 100% recyclable and significantly improves logistics efficiency.”

The important point is not only “plastic replacement.” It is logistics density.

Another DS Smith winner, the POS Harmonic Display, was designed to assemble around 60% faster than typical multi-part corrugated displays.

For box plants, the lesson is simple: value increasingly comes from removing labour, transport and complexity from the customer’s process.

2. Smurfit Westrock: 9.1% lower packaging cost — and 13 fewer truck journeys

Smurfit Westrock won 15 WorldStar awards in 2026 before adding eight FIA UK awards and an FTA Best of Show.

Saverio Mayer, CEO of Smurfit Westrock EMEA & APAC, put the recognition in broader terms: “The WorldStar awards celebrate the best of what our industry has to offer.”

One of those winners, the Hol(e)y Tray, shows how corrugated engineering can affect the P&L directly. The transit solution for 10-litre containers uses precision-cut holes so the containers interlock and stabilise each other on the pallet. The redesign enabled a move from BC to thinner EB flute and reduced internal support columns.

The published results are unusually concrete: 27% fewer handling steps, 9.1% lower packaging cost, annual savings of €69,300, 40% less warehouse space for empty packaging and 13 fewer truck journeys per year. Smurfit Westrock also reports zero complaints about collapsed loads and a 43-tonne annual CO₂ reduction.

The company also won a WorldStar for Tequila Avión after integrating separate dividers into one corrugated packaging system, with a reported 33% reduction in CO₂ emissions. In print, it took eight FIA UK awards and an FTA Best of Show in Preprint Linerboard for Kimberly Clark Huggies Snug & Dry.

One company, three kinds of value: logistics, cost and print quality.

3. Mondi: nine WorldStars — and corrugated taking over jobs once done by EPS

Mondi received nine WorldStar Packaging Awards in 2026.

For corrugated producers, one of the most relevant winners is the 3 in 1 Separator. It uses recyclable corrugated board to separate and protect several electronic components inside one pack, replacing traditional EPS while maintaining protection during transport and handling.

Another winner, the Koala Display, combines retail visibility with a material-efficient corrugated structure.

The direction is important: less dependence on hard-to-recycle protective materials and more functionality from fibre-based structures.

4. Nefab: from 1.6 kg to 0.957 kg — and about 280 more packs per truck

Nefab’s FiberFlute project shows why material substitution is only half the story.

The previous protective packaging combined PE foam and corrugated board and weighed 1.6 kg. The redesigned WorldStar-recognised solution combines FiberFlute, Nefab’s paper-based cushioning material, with corrugated board. Package weight fell to 0.957 kg.

But the biggest operational result is transport density: Nefab says the redesign allows approximately 280 more packages per truck.

The company also reports a 22% CO₂ reduction based on its GreenCalc life-cycle assessment, equivalent to 26 tonnes of CO₂ annually for the application.

For a plant manager, that is a useful sustainability story: less weight, more units per truck and lower transport intensity.

5. Tailim Packaging + OTOKI: from double-wall to single-wall with 7.3% less paper

This South Korean WorldStar winner goes straight to one of the most important technical questions in corrugated board: how far can lightweighting go without sacrificing performance?

Tailim Packaging and OTOKI developed a corrugated box using specially reinforced recycled paper whose strength is improved through fibrillation and starch coating.

According to the WorldStar submission, the construction can replace a conventional double-wall box for heavy products with a single-wall box without reducing the required strength.

The reported result is 7.3% less paper use, along with lower cost, lower CO₂ impact and improved pallet stacking efficiency. The project went through three years of development and field testing.

Lightweighting is becoming engineering, not simply grammage reduction.

6. Dynapac: same material, 45% more compression strength and 7% lower cost

Dynapac’s Koro-Pita Carton changes the flap structure of a regular slotted corrugated carton to improve stability during material handling.

Dynapac reports that, compared with a BA-flute box using the same material, one production process is eliminated, lead time is shortened by one day, cost falls by 7% and compression strength increases by 45%.

No exotic material is required. The gain comes from flap geometry, internal movement and pallet stability.

A structural change can create a bigger performance gain than simply adding more paper.

7. Saica and Adara/Marvaco: corrugated print is moving upmarket

Saica Pack received eight FIA awards for flexographic printing on corrugated packaging in 2026: three Gold, two Silver and three Bronze. A ninth recognition went to Steve Melville of Saica Flex for outstanding contribution to the flexographic industry.

Saica Pack Livingston then won the Self-promotional Print category at the Digital Labels & Packaging Awards. The winning piece was printed directly onto corrugated board produced on the site’s own corrugator and demonstrated tactile and gloss varnishing, simulated embossing and debossing, and multi-height tactile effects — without conventional tooling.

At the FTA Excellence in Flexography Awards, Adara Pakkaus and Marvaco won Best of Show in the corrugated segment for the Boulangerie Marco Cake Box.

Corrugated graphics are no longer being judged by whether they are “good enough for a box.”

They are increasingly competing on tonal range, precision, visual impact and premium finishing.

Selected corrugated packaging examples illustrating the trends discussed in this article: integrated transit protection, higher pallet efficiency and retail-ready design. The Avión transit pack is based on a Smurfit Westrock award-winning case; other elements are editorial illustrations.

Beyond the big seven: corrugated is spreading into more functions

The awards also show how far corrugated is moving beyond the conventional box. Rondo Ganahl’s five WorldStars ranged from heavy-duty transit and a corrugated tray replacing polystyrene to premium champagne packaging. Delkeskamp and Kampmann won the German Packaging Award for a “3 in 1” corrugated pack that transports a climate unit, helps installers position it and protects it during installation. Dunapack Packaging Hungary was recognised for DIVE, a virtual packaging environment used before production begins.

At the equipment and process level, BHS Corrugated’s 2026 recognition shows that the same shift extends into supply-chain intelligence and management, while the BHS Jetliner Monochrome had taken FEFCO’s Gold Award for Best Innovation in Advanced Technology in the previous award season.

What are the judges really rewarding?

Put the strongest cases together and six trends emerge.

First, packaging is being judged by supply-chain output, not only by the box itself. Pallet density and truck utilisation are becoming design KPIs.

Second, lightweighting is becoming engineering. The question is no longer simply how many grams can be removed, but how structure, flute, paper performance and logistics work together.

Third, corrugated is replacing materials that were once difficult to replace. Foam, EPS, plastic supports and protective films are being challenged by fibre-based alternatives — but only when protection and line performance are maintained.

Fourth, print quality is becoming a technology field of its own. Flexo, preprint and digital effects on corrugated are increasingly competing on precision, tonal range and finishing.

Fifth, the package is becoming part of the operation. It can simplify assembly, support installation, improve transport density or move product development into a virtual environment before the first sheet is produced.

And sixth, the strongest sustainability claims are measurable. Cost per pack, truck journeys, pallet density, kilograms of material, handling steps and compression strength are replacing vague claims.

Why this matters beyond the awards

The strongest signal is not the number of trophies. It is who is using these solutions and what problems they are solving.

Cowboy is using redesigned corrugated transit packs for e-bike batteries. Kimberly Clark appears in award-winning preprint work. Tequila Avión is using an integrated corrugated system. Haleon and Sensodyne are behind an award-winning point-of-sale display. OTOKI is involved in a heavy-product box that moves from double-wall to single-wall.

That is not proof that corrugated is taking over every packaging market. But it is clear evidence that brand owners, converters and independent juries are asking more from corrugated board — and rewarding it when it delivers measurable performance.

Corrugated board is not being rewarded because it is fashionable or simply “green.” It is being rewarded when it solves measurable problems.