Plastics innovators celebrated at PRSE expo in Amsterdam

For the first time in the seven-year history of the PRSE Awards, the judges have announced multiple winners per category. It selected two Plastics Recycling Ambassadors as well as the four product and two innovation category winners.

The awards were handed out to the innovators on the second day of the annual Plastics Recyclers Europe Show. The conference and expo, which covered three halls, once again drew a large international audience of almost 9 000 people.

Applause for the winners!

A total of seven categories were represented at the awards.

Winners include;

• Erica Canaia, ceo of FIMIC and Vicente Olmos Jorge, founder of SINTAC Recycling, were named industry ambassadors of the year. Canaia was commended for being a technology expert that established the AreyouR project, aimed at increasing public awareness of plastics recycling.

Meanwhile, Olmos Jorge, has been an active leader in the plastics recycling sector for over 30 years.

• Beiersdorf AG & Morssinkhof Plastics Heerenveen claimed the Plastic Packaging Product of the Year title with the Nivea Sun Lotion Bottle. This winning design received high praise for successfully addressing the challenge of cosmetics packaging applications through collaboration.

• Multi-Color Corporation beat no less than twelve finalists in the category ‘Product Technology Innovation’ thanks to NextCycle IML.

The winning innovation helps maximise the value of recycled polypropylene. This strikes a good balance between shelf appeal and recyclability for mono-material PP packaging.

• The Erema Group and Powerfil took home the award in the ‘Recycling Machinery Innovation’ category. Its DischargePro Technology rings in a new generation of plastic melt filters which has the power to greatly advance the plastic extrusion process.

Recycled trophy

All eight winners received a trophy made from recycled plastics. Its 3D printed base was made from 100% recycled ABS plastic car dashboards and the multi-colour top was laser cut from compressed HDPE beach clean-up bottle caps.

PRSE president Ton Emans applauds ongoing industry efforts for more innovative plastics recycling. He reports that plastics recycling is a rapidly growing sector in Europe, representing around EUR 10.5 billion in turnover.