New plastic packaging products were awarded the "PackTheFuture Award" (www.packthefuture.com) on 27 November 2018 at the "All4Pack" trade fair in Paris. The two packaging associations Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen (IK, Bad Homburg / Germany; www.kunststoffverpackungen.de) and Elipso (Paris / France; www.elipso.org) jointly awarded the packaging prizes for the fourth time. The jury chose out of 48 submissions from German, French, Italian, Austrian and Spanish companies in the four categories "Ecodesign", "Product Protection", "Social Benefit" and "Save Food". On top of that, there was a special award.

IK and Elipso noted the high quality of the entries they received, which shows that the associations' members have been successful in pursuing more sustainable and innovative plastic packaging. The number of entries in the ecodesign category makes it clear that companies are increasingly focused on the circular economy. The 2018 awardees are:

Ecodesign:

• Groupe Barbier (France) for "Low Fusion Film"
• Heinz Plastics Böhm (Germany) for "Recyclat-Verschluss"
• Incoplas (France) for "rPE-range"
• Jokey Plastik Wipperfürth (Germany) for "Jokey Multi Pack 185"
• Nordfolien (Germany) for "NorDiFill-Eco"

Product Protection:

• RPC Bramlage (France) for "Defi 3"
• Ohlro Hartschaum (Germany) for "O-Box H250"

Social Benefit:

• RPC Bender (Germany) for "Sportscap Secure Flip 1881"
• Betapack (France) for "Bouchon Snap Clic Pelican"
• Bernhardt Packaging & Process (France) for "Steri-liquid Pouch"

Save Food:

• Olivo & Knauf Industries (France) for "Box Max 64"

The jury awarded the special prize to Alpla (Hard / Austria; www.alpla.com) for its first recyclable "beach plastic" shampoo bottle. The "Head & Shoulders" bottle is made of 25% recycled plastic from beach litter and was developed in collaboration with TerraCycle, Suez and Procter & Gamble (see Plasteurope.com of 09.08.2017). Hundreds of NGOs and thousands of volunteers are part of the initiative, to help collect plastics waste on beaches for recycling. The product was launched in France in 2017. The bottle is not only intended to help remove plastics waste from beaches, but also to increase consumer awareness of recycling.

The award ceremony for the fifth edition of the PackTheFuture prize will take place at the next "Interpack" trade fair in May 2020 in Düsseldorf / Germany.

e-Service:
"PackTheFuture Award 2018 – Innovation Book" with detailed descriptions of the products awarded as a PDF file