Sustainable Solutions Grab Top DuPont Awards

GILLETTE, Coca-Cola, Intel, GlaxoSmithKlein and Heinz are among the top brands recognised for breakthrough developments in the 23rd DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation. The annual awards programme honours packaging innovation and shows how collaboration throughout the global value chain can bring cost-effective innovation to the market to help improve sustainability, the consumer experience and reduce waste.

"The nominees and winners this year show how sustainability considerations are driving innovation," said Shanna Moore, global director, sustainability - DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers.  "We see how sustainability takes many shapes - ranging from use of organic or renewably sourced materials to the relentless drive to reduce waste and weight."

This year's expert jury panel evaluated more than 200 entries from around the world and awarded two diamond winners, six gold winners and eight silver winners. John Bernardo, principal, Sustainable Innovations LLC, head of the jury panel, said, "Nearly all of the winning innovations related to reducing waste in the system.  The jury could see a much deeper consideration of sustainability concerns, starting with responsible sourcing, thoughtful package design, and all the way to end of life factors."

Here, we highlight the winners that create value or may be applicable to the food & beverage packaging sector.

Protective Solution from Nature

Sharing the Diamond award for "Excellence in Innovation, Cost/Waste Reduction and Sustainability", Ecovative Design (USA) was recognised for its natural solutions and bio-adaptation approach that led to triple bottom-line solutions.

Thinking completely outside the box, Ecovative looked to nature and found an innovative, cost-effective, all-natural solution for protective secondary packaging used for items such as electronics. EcoCradle? is grown from mycelium (mushroom "roots") and regionally sourced agricultural by-products, like cotton burrs and oat hulls. A cost-effective and sustainable replacement for Styrofoam or other materials used in protective packaging, it is completely composed of ultra-rapid renewable resources and is also home compostable.

Gillette (The Procter & Gamble Company and Be Green Packaging) was the other Diamond winner*.

Gold Awardees

Amongst the food & beverage entries to win gold awards for "Innovation and Sustainability or Innovation and Cost/Waste Reduction" are entries from Brazil, the Netherlands and Slovakia.

The "Virtuous Cycle" developed by Greif / Cimplast Embalagens and Cimflex (Brazil) is a complete cycle approach that enables used multilayer agrochemical bottles to be diverted from landfills and remade into high-value products.  Typically, most post-consumer multilayer recycled materials are used to make low-value products.  The help of a polymer compatibiliser from DuPont, Fusabond, makes it possible to reuse this mixed material waste stream for products such as rigid or flexible corrugated pipes and automotive lubricant bottles. Through this process, more than 150,000 tons of agrochemical empty plastic bottles have been collected from the field since 2002, saving an estimated 374,000 barrels of crude oil and more than 160,000 tons of CO2 equivalents that were not belched into the atmosphere.

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