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The fate of Melbourne-based sustainable packaging group Great Wrap, which collapsed with reported debts of $39 million, will be decided at the second meeting of creditors scheduled for next week with liquidation possible for the business.
The company, founded in 2019 by Julia and Jordy Kay with a plan to end the world's reliance on petroleum-based plastic packaging, was placed into voluntary administration last month.
The collapse is a major blow for the Australian sustainability sector as Great Wrap was a beacon of innovation that was supported by global investors willing to back the husband-and-wife duo making a change for good.
Over the past six years, Great Wrap estimates it has saved more than 15 million metres of traditional plastic stretch wrap from ending up in landfill.
Great Wrap has raised $29 million since inception from a range of investors including Belarusian professional tennis player Aryna Sabalenka, US venture capitalists RCV Partners, Barrel Ventures and Platinum Mile, and Australian firms Giant Leap and Startmate.
Brent Morgan and Shane Cremin, of Rodgers Reidy, were appointed administrators to Great Wrap’s operating company Plantabl Packaging Pty Ltd on 17 September this year to oversee business operations and examine the cause of the collapse.
Business News Australia has sought comment from the administrators who are reported to have closed Great Wrap’s Tullamarine manufacturing facility.
But in a heartfelt post on LinkedIn today, co-founder Jordy Kay says he and Julia “believed so strongly in this business”, adding that they tried everything they could to make it a success.
“We set up a well-known brand and eventually a high-performing product that competed perfectly against decades of innovation from the petrochemical stretch wrap industry,” says Kay.
Great Wrap manufactured compostable stretch wrap from food waste with its product range comprising compostable cling wrap, catering wrap and pallet wraps.
The company last year announced a partnership with cardboard packaging giant Opal in a national distribution deal for Great Wrap’s compostable plastic pallet wrap.
The product was added to the Opal Packaging Plus division’s range of 15,000 products, making it the first compostable stretch wrap in the range.
Great Wrap was also working towards building a biorefinery to produce a marine-degradable material called PHA which is said to be the bioplastics of the future.
“Customers loved the vision and impact Great Wrap could make,” says Kay.
“We had RFQs (requests for quotation) with the retailers and trials under way. We had the biggest FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) companies begging for our product.”
However, Kay also points out that in recent times more customers began shifting away from compostable packaging for stretch wrap in favour of vertically integrating their own plastic recycling operations.
“This meant the pipeline slowly subsided and demand weakened," he says.
“We pushed on and grew the business to hundreds of enterprise customers and distributors but that wasn’t enough to sustain the overheads of a plant to support a much larger vision.”
Great Wrap looked to bigger markets, particularly the US, to take up the slack but Kay noted that a combination of being unable to get the company’s Australian plant to break even meant the founders “ran out of time and capital to pursue the US expansion”.
“This isn’t the outcome any of our customers, team and investors wanted, and I can honestly say that I am sorry that the outcome wasn’t different,” says Kay.
“There are decisions made in hindsight that I would do differently and I will spend a long time analysing the past six years.
“It has been an honour to work with our amazing team, customers and investors over the past few years, and I cannot thank you enough for the support in building Great Wrap.”
Kay says he will continue to support the administrators to sell all equipment and materials, and “to do my best to have all creditors repaid in full”.
“Julia and I went into this eyes wide open and swung for the fences to build something bold, but ultimately, we did not succeed,” he says.
“I hope our journey does not prevent others from trying in what can be a tough space, because if none of us tried, then we would live in a very dull world.”
Administrators held the first meeting of creditors on 30 September 2025 and have scheduled the second meeting for this Tuesday 21 October.
Should a rescue proposal not be put forward at that meeting, Great Wrap will be placed into liquidation.
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