PLASTICS announces 2023 Re|focus award winners

The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) has announced the winners of its 2023 Re|focus Sustainability Innovation Awards, which recognize outstanding innovations that improve sustainability in five categories.

Patrick Krieger, PLASTICS VP of sustainability, congratulated the winners. “The plastic industry is innovating every day to find new ways to keep plastic in the circular economy and out of the environment,” he said. “I congratulate our winners and am proud to be part of an industry that is committed to sustainability and advancing the circular economy.”

• Avient Corp. won the Sustainable Innovation in Design Award for its Color Prediction Service. It’s the first digital tool of its kind that can illustrate the color possibilities or limitations of certain types of post-consumer recycled resins (PCR) prior to laboratory trials. This can help shorten the time-to-launch of new product ranges, allowing fast and reliable checks prior to initiating sample development and simplifying the overall decision-making process of brand owners and technical colorists.
• The Sustainable Innovation in Materials Award went to Envision Plastics for its EcoPrime Fit for Food Contact HDPE and PP PCR. EcoPrime is made of PCR that started out as food packaging. The company’s patented post-extrusion and chemical-free devolatilization process decontaminates and cleans resin by removing odors, volatiles and semi-volatiles to ensure the resulting PCR is safe to be used again in direct food contact.
• ExxonMobil took home the Sustainable Innovation in End-of-Life Award for its Exxtend Technology for Advanced Recycling. The technology breaks down plastic waste that is difficult to mechanically recycle into feedstock. The technology creates new virgin-quality plastic and other valuable products.
• The People's Choice Award went to Solvay for its Amodel Bios polyphthalamide (PPA). Amodel is a partially bio-sourced long-chain PPA made from non-food competing biomass. The resin is produced using 100 percent renewable electricity. This sustainable combination results in Solvay's Amodel Bios PPA having the lowest Global Warming Potential score of all PPA resins.
• The Leadership in Sustainability Innovation Award honors the company with the best overall score across three categories. Amcor Rigid Packaging, which submitted three innovations, took the honors. Amcor’s submissions included the company’s Quantum Premium Lightweight Finish Technology, a two-step lightweighting technology that cuts down on more than 50 percent of the weight of a PET bottle. Amcor’s PowerPost Lightweighting Technology for hot-fill beverages produces bottles that are up to 30 percent lighter. They can be made with up to 100 percent recycled material and are fully recyclable. Finally, created in partnership with GEEP, PepsiCo’s exclusive bottler in Mexico, Amcor’s PepsiCo 2.5-liter PET Returnable, Reusable, and Refillable Bottle is 100 percent recyclable.