2024 BPF Horners Award Winners Receive their Prizes

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On 3 October 2024, the winners of the British Plastics Federation’s (BPF) Horners Awards for Plastics Innovation and Design, the Bottlemakers Award and the David Williams Award were presented with their trophies at the Horners Annual Banquet.

After a record-breaking number of entries this year and a tough round of judging by industry experts, the winners were first announced during a presentation at GRIPS 2024, an event which the Horners sponsored with funds donated in memory of late David Williams.

Plastics Innovation and Design 2024

The BPF Horners Award for Plastics Innovation and Design was Loughborough University’s ‘Next-Generation Additive Manufactured Police Body Armour’. The team at the university, led by Andrew Johnson, developed polymer laser sintered and hybrid aramid laser sintered body armour panels, capable of providing multi-strike protection against knife, spike, and handgun ballistic threats – in line with the UK Home Office’s Body Armour Standard. The judges were impressed with how the design and permits bespoke protective panels capable of significantly improving comfort for female police officers.

Bottlemakers Award 2024

This winner of the Bottlemakers Award was Hawkins Mutes with its blow moulded Brass Instrument Mutes.

Crafted from high-quality ABS plastic, known for its durability and stiffness, it provides exceptional acoustic properties. The material guarantees the longevity of the mutes but also delivers a rich, warm tone.

The Horners committee felt that the product is a shining example of the excellence in design and manufacturing for which the United Kingdom is renowned. The company’s commitment to domestic design and manufacturing has not only bolstered the local economy but has also allowed them to maintain rigorous quality control standards.

David Williams Award 2024

This year’s David Wiliams Award (presented to those who make an outstanding contribution to society through plastics) went to Isabel Payne for her invention of the SafiCase. Payne is a student at the Glasgow School of Art, who acknowledged the need for reusable sanitary products that can be safely maintained without electricity or running water.

Payne discovered that a singular menstrual cup replaces 10 years’ worth of single-use sanitary products, and with around 500 million women relying on sanitary products being distributed monthly by charities, the menstrual cup should be an incredible alternative. However, research shows menstrual cups cannot be distributed due to the difficulties cleaning them without a large amount of clean water and a mains electrical connection.

The ‘Saficase’ is an all-in-one solution for both cleaning and sterilising a menstrual cup involving minimal water. Made using medical grade silicone, HDPE, and PP, the product uses a steam sterilising circuit powered by a modular solar battery base, which only needs 15ml water and is charged with 24 hours of sunlight per month. The body of the case can also be used to mechanically ‘shake clean’ a cup with 45 ml water for convenient discrete cleaning.

The Chairman of the Worshipful Company of Horners Awards Committee Professor Stefaan Simons states:

“The record number of entries to our Awards this year signifies their growing relevance and reputation in the plastics and polymer industries, and the desire for recognising the best the sector has to offer in innovation and design.”

“With laser-sintered police body armour from Loughborough University impressing the judges to win the Horners Award for Plastics Innovation & Design, the blow-moulded brass instrument mutes from Hawkins Mutes winning our Bottlemakers Award, and for the second time, the winner of the Horners’ Design Innovation in Plastics student design (Isabel Payne’s SafiCase) also winning the David Williams Award for Social Contribution through Plastics.

“We also wanted to recognise  two companies as highly commended this year: Abel and Cole and Hydropol Aquapak. Their amazing entries both focused on the circular economy of plastics – a topic receiving increasing attention from international pressure groups. It’s wonderful to see British companies and UK subsidiaries taking a lead on this.”

Entries are already open for the BPF Horners Awards 2025. Please find the details here: www.bpf.co.uk/horners

Read more from the BPF here.