The inaugural winners of the Plastics Recycling Awards Europe were announced last week at the RAI Centre in Amsterdam, during the Plastics Recycling Show Europe.
The panel of judges for the awards included: Simona Bonafè, Italian MEP; Cyrill Gutsch founder of Parley for the Oceans; founder of Form Us With Love, Jonas Pettersson; Richard C. Thompson, Professor of Marine Biology at Plymouth University; Rune Thoralfsson, director of film recycler Norfolier GreenTec; Ton Emans President of Plastics Recyclers Europe, and Karen Laird, Editor of Plastics News Europe.
Far right: Brennan Lafferty, Vice President and Publisher of Crain Communications (which co-organises PRS Europe with the Plastics Recyclers Europe) presents the winners of the Plastics Recycling Awards Europe with their awards at the event in Amsterdam.
Awards were given to Willemijn Peeters, founder of Searious Business, for Plastics Recycling Ambassador of the Year.
DS Smith Plastics for its Beaulex rainwater buffers in the Building and Construction Product category.
Arçelik, for its Grundig vacuum cleaner made from WEEE recycled plastics in the Recycled Plastic Consumer Lifestyle Product category.
Der Grüne Punkt – Duales System Deutschland for Systalen PRIMUS HDPE regranulates in Recycled Plastic Packaging Product.
Mondi for its BarrierPack Recyclable PE-based laminate packaging in the Technology Innovation in Plastics Recycling category.
Ton Emans, awards judge and President of Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE), said: “The Plastics Recycling Awards Europe winners have each successfully demonstrated how passion, innovation, ingenuity and determination can achieve practical, commercial and successful advances in plastics recycling. The very high standard and number of entries we received for each category is testament to the growing range of consumer and industrial applications in which recycled plastics and recycling technology are being used. They are making a huge contribution towards conserving resources, reducing carbon dioxide and sustaining the circular economy.”
The winners received a trophy designed and made by the Better Future Factory. The base is 3D printed from recycled ABS plastic car dashboards and the multi-colour top is laser cut from compressed HDPE beach clean-up bottle caps.