Ten solutions made of plastics or incorporating a plastic component prevailed in the German Packaging Award 2023 presented by the domestic packaging organisation Deutsches Verpackungsinstitut (dvi, Berlin; https://www.verpackung.org/en).

The jury lauded recyclates, recyclable barrier solutions, new packaging materials, and mono-material solutions, with 34 winners to receive their awards in Berlin on 13 September, when the top Gold Awards are to be announced.

German filling and packaging system manufacturer Krones (Neutraubling; www.krones.com) garnered recognition in the sustainability category – the largest group with 13 winners – for its ShoulderFlex 500 ml PET bottle, which weighs just under 6 g thanks to its design and permits material savings of up to 50% versus standard water bottles, the jury explained. Despite this weight reduction, the bottle achieves a top load of 40 kg.

Tandil laundry tabs from German supermarket chain Aldi Süd come in a box made from 92% recycled polypropylene, which is uncoloured. The container also weighs less and is expected to provide annual savings of 29 t in virgin material for this product group.

The easier removal of printing inks during recycling was the main focus of a new stand-up pouch concept implemented by German firms Siegwerk Druckfarben (Siegburg; www.siegwerk.com), adhesive manufacturer Henkel (Düsseldorf; www.henkel.com), and blown film machine maker Windmöller & Hölscher (W&H, Lengerich; www.wuh-group.com), Polish film producer Kraus (Kalisz; www.krausfolie.pl), and US polyethylene supplier ExxonMobil (Houston, Texas; www.exxonmobilchemical.com). A printed oxygen barrier combined with an innovative primer for delamination and de-inking and an adhesive that has been certified for this specific process is said to allow for mono-PE packaging with a barrier on the inside to be reprocessed into transparent mono-PE after an alkaline aqueous hot wash, the standard for reprocessing.

A prize in the New Materials category went to a recyclable bag designed for curing cheese. The mono-PE product from Südpack (Ochsenhausen, Germany; www.suedpack.com) is said to replace the polyamide-polyethylene film composite previously used. The jury noted that the material provides a functional barrier needed for curing the cheese while saving 23% in material.

Further winners:

• rPP reusable shipping bags and boxes (Boomerang, Hamburg, Germany; www.boomerang.eu)
• the PharmaGuard recyclable PP blister pack in PP (Südpack)
• a blister pack with pockets made of 80% rPET for WCFrisch (Henkel)
• an HDPE tube with an HDPE flip-top requiring 70% less material than similar solutions (Linhardt, Viechtach, Germany; www.linhardt.com)
• shipping bags for medical samples with an integral absorbent coating (Anton Debatin, Bruchsal, German; www.debatin.de)

 

In the Young Talents category, students Melina Mamberger and Theodor Hörchner from the BHT Berlin university for applied science received an award for their TrinkSchach (DrinkingChess) plastics packaging. “No matter whether the bottle is full or empty, it’s the closure that makes all the difference,” the jury noted about this unusual packaging with its secondary use. “The bottle and closure together form a chess piece and, with a sufficient number of bottles, you can form a chess set.”