Green packaging: Take a look at winners of the Sustainability Awards

Overall Winner: AMP Robotics

AMP Vortex, an AI-powered automation system for film removal and recovery in recycling facilities, can identify film and flexible objects, then captured and removed by an automated vacuum, and deposited in a configurable location.

This machinery aims to relieve recycling facilities of the responsibility to reduce contamination in waste stream, and scale the recycling of film and flexible packaging.

Best Practice: Pepsi (China)

Label-free multipack features the absence of plastic label from PET bottles in multipacks and print from cap. These simplify recycling and reduce carbon footprint.

Driving the Circular Economy: Berry Global

Closed loop recycled paint containers constitute a circular partnership that combines paint and packaging recovery and recycling. The solution involves the removal and re-engineering of leftover paint from an empty container, resulting clean, recycle-ready cans and new paint.

Recyclable Packaging: Kraft Heinz

Mono-material Balaton dispensing closure ensures the recyclability of the whole bottle, including the cap, replacing around 300 million non-recyclable silicone valves annually.

Renewable Materials: P&G

Ariel ECOCLIC box contains 70% recycled content, replacing plastic container. It brings together recyclability, safety and design geared towards an inclusive consumer experience.

Active & Intelligent: Fyllar

Mess-free smart refill solution, a patented technology, offers clean, efficient and low-cost refill experience.

It is smart fill RFID tag recognizes different products and fills packaging accordingly. It also facilitates data-driven reward systems, streamlines processes and optimizes inventory management.

Readers’ Award: Lidl, Algramo and Fyllar

Refill station for Formil laundry detergent features smart, refillable, 100% recyclable HDPE bottles and touchscreen machinery. With every use, it helps save 59g of plastics, which is equivalent to weight of single-use bottle.

It recognizes a chip contained in the refill bottles to distinguish between first-time users and reused bottles, charging the consumer accordingly.

Pre-commercialized Active & Intelligent: National University of Malaysia and Tunku Abdul Rahman University

Starch-polyaniline biopolymer film for food-grade packaging is reinforced with cellulose nanocrystals extracted from agricultural waste.

This film is biodegradable and will visibly change color from green to blue to indicate when the food inside has spoiled.

Pre-commercialized Climate: ALPLA

Lightweight Canupak beauty packaging optimizes carbon footprint of entire packaging system, from its production using 100% renewable energy to its transportation, in a cradle-to-gate and end-of-life approach.

Pre-commercialized Driving the Circular Economy: NEXTEK

COtooCLEAN technology decontaminates post-consumer polyolefin films using low-pressure super-critical CO2 and green co-solvents in a closed loop. This process removes oils, fats and printing inks, and restores flexible films to food-grade quality in line with EFSA food-grade standards.

Unlike other industry practices, the technology is free of water, caustic soda, and surfactants.

Pre-commercialized Recyclable Packaging: CITEO, Olga, Amcor, Cedap, Plastiques Venthenat and Synerlink

Recycle ready yogurt FFS pack (form-fill-seal) constitutes 98.5% raw material polystyrene. The packaging can be fully recycled in the new polystyrene recycling stream, promoting a circular packaging loop and optimizing the efficiency of whole recycling chain.