Packamama has officially announced the establishment of its manufacturing operations in South Africa, marking a significant step in the company’s expansion strategy. This development is being undertaken in collaboration with two of Africa’s most respected industry leaders: Safripol, a leading polymer manufacturer in South Africa, and Polyoak, one of Southern Africa’s foremost packaging producers.
Through this strategic partnership, Packamama aims to strengthen its local production capabilities while leveraging Safripol’s expertise in polymer innovation and Polyoak’s extensive experience in packaging manufacturing. The collaboration is expected to enhance supply chain efficiency, support regional manufacturing, and deliver high-quality packaging solutions tailored to the African market. This move also reflects Packamama’s commitment to sustainable growth, local partnerships, and long-term investment in the continent’s packaging industry.
The announcement trails a successful period of stealth production in Cape Town, which took place following Cape Wine 2025. With the focus intentionally left on South African wine at the time of the biennial wine sector trade fair, Packamama has selected to formally declare the launch and collaborate at the end of the year.
Packamama’s iconic eco-flat wine bottle is currently manufactured in Cape Town, utilizing South African recycled PET (rPET) resin, distributed by Safripol, and produced at Polyoak’s world-class service. The bottles organize Packamama’s bespoke resource stack, precisely engineered to shield wine quality and shelf-life while offering a substantially lesser carbon footprint than traditional glass.
The association also actively favors Safripol’s “Let’s Plastic Responsibly” recycling campaign, strengthening the role of appropriately collected and recycled plastic as a share of a circular economy. Crucially, the inventiveness keeps engineering and bottling jobs local, safeguarding that value remains within South Africa’s packing ecosystem rather than being transferred offshore.
Since commencing production, Packamama has already effectively produced a six-figure volume of bottles, achieved consistent, high-quality output, and demonstrated readiness to scale. The corporation is now welcoming interest from South African manufacturers and international retailers looking for sustainable, locally made wine packaging solutions.
Packamama’s eco-flat bottle is already recognized across ten international markets and has won several awards for sustainability, design, and presentation. The South African introduction marks a noteworthy step in the company’s plan to localize production in major wine-producing regions.
South Africa is now the world’s seventh-largest wine producer (OIV, Nov 2025) and the sixth most widespread wine country among UK consumers (WSTA, Dec 2025), making local engineering of next-generation wine bottle packaging both deliberately and economically convincing.
Santiago Navarro, CEO & Founder of Packamama, expressed: “This is precisely how we believe sustainable packaging should scale locally made, commercially established, and built with world-class partners. Polyoak and Safripol show the best of South African packaging and polymers, and we are representing that you can shield wine quality, protect jobs, and slash releases at the same time. Producing Packamama bottles in Cape Town, utilizing South African recycled PET, is something we are incredibly proud of. We have already confirmed the quality at scale, and we are happy to welcome more producers into this next chapter for South African wine.”
23 January 2026
23 January 2026
23 January 2026
23 January 2026