Amsterdam — An automotive headliner, a trash bin made from recycled plastics, film innovations and solar panels made with 95 percent recycled plastic content took top honors at Plastics Recycling Awards Europe 2022.
The awards were announced June 23 at the Plastics Recycling Show Europe in Amsterdam.
The awards event began in 2017 and mark an increase in awareness of the circular economy and industry steps taken to embrace more recycling and sustainability.
Awards went to:
• Auto supplier Grupo Antolin for a sustainable modular headliner for the automotive, electrical or electronics category.
Antolin says the headliner already in production for the Volvo C40 Recharge is made by thermoforming polyurethane foam, textile and plastic reinforcement made from post-consumer plastic waste and end-of-life tires.
The auto supplier based in Burgos, Spain, says it also was able to reduce waste and energy consumption during manufacturing.
• Montello SpA and WET/Ecopixel srl for the Solar Heat panels from recycled plastic, in the building and construction category. The solar panels are made with 95 percent post-consumer recycled plastics and also are designed for easy recycling at the end of life to create a circular energy product.
• Brabantia Branding BV's StepUp Pedal Bin for household and leisure products. The Netherlands-based company says the bin is its first made with waste, produced with 91 percent post-consumer polypropylene.
• Freiberger Lebensmittel GmbH, Alesco Folien GmbH & Co. KG, Ecoplast Kunstoffrecycling GmbH and Borealis AG for a recyclable collation shrink film with post-consumer plastic content in the plastic packaging product category.
Thin, strong, and lightweight, collation films can help to reduce packaging wastage and considerably reduce the weight of freight thus also contributing to a reduction in carbon emissions. Using recycled resin derived from commercial post-consumer and municipal waste further serves to enhance the eco-benefits of this product, award judges said.
• Procter & Gamble Co.'s recyclable monomaterial polyethylene pouch for product technology innovation.
The pouch is part of a refill system. Consumers purchase the product in the recyclable PE packaging and pour it into a durable, recyclable aluminium container that will not rust in bathroom use. The pouch currently has a lid made from PP, but this will be replaced by one made from PE in the future, making it possible to recycle the pouch in a single stream.
• Pellenc ST's Mistral + Connect for recycling machinery innovation.
• Mik Van Gaever of Fost Plus was named Plastics Recycling Ambassador.
The winners each receive a trophy, with a 3D printed base made from 100% recycled ABS plastic car dashboards and the multi-colour top which is laser cut from compressed HDPE beach clean-up bottle caps.
"As the use of recycled plastic continues to grow, we've seen both the number and quality of the submissions to the Plastics Recycling Awards Europe steadily rise," said Ton Emans, president of Plastics Recyclers Europe. "It has not made the task of judging easy, but this year's winners represent yet another high point in our path towards the truly circular use of plastics throughout the entire value chain."
The Plastics Recycling Awards Europe are organised jointly by Plastics Recyclers Europe and Crain Communications Inc., the parent company of Sustainable Plastics and Plastics News.