Sustainability Awards 2018 Open for Submissions
Packaging waste, climate change and other environmental problems demand an urgent and coherent response from the CPG industry. All too often innovations are marketed as ‘green’ based on gains in a single metric, when the complex landscape of ecological challenges requires a holistic approach.
The Sustainability Awards 2018, organised by Packaging Europe magazine and hosted at Scanpack, Gothenburg, sets out to connect the dots. The annual competition has returned for its fourth edition – with submissions open until 15th May.
The Sustainability Awards categories spotlight each of the key areas of innovation where the environmental footprint of packaging and packaged goods can be reduced, from resource efficiency to recycling, biomaterials to greener packaging machinery, and driving best practice at the brand owner and retailer level. Moreover, across all categories the judges are instructed to favour holistic solutions over those whose gains in one area may be offset by negative side-effects in others.
A core principle of the Sustainability Awards is that it is judged by an independent panel of internationally renowned experts representing the whole value chain. This year’s 17 judges span sustainable packaging design, packaging and sustainability industry organisations, brands and retail and waste management. Judges include Virginie Helias (P&G), Jean-Marc Boursier (leading global waste management company SUEZ), Bruno Van Gompel (Coca-Cola Western Europe), Dr Mats Linder (Ellen McArthur Foundation), Kevin Vyse (M&S), Virginia Janssens (EUROPEN – the European Organization for Packaging and the Environment) and Arno Melchior (Reckitt Benckiser), the heads of the German, Dutch and Finnish packaging associations, INCPEN and CEFLEX, among others.
The Sustainability Awards 2018 comprise six categories with one overall ‘Best Sustainable Packaging Innovation’ chosen from the winners of the sub-sections. Winners will be announced at the presentations ceremony on 23 October at Scanpack in Gothenburg, Sweden, in conjunction with the Sustainable Packaging Summit, also organised by Packaging Europe.
Anna Lena Friberg, exhibition manager at Svenska Mässan, commented: “Scanpack is delighted to have Packaging Europe as its Content Partner. It’s an honour to have the opportunity to host the Sustainability Awards, which is internationally recognised as the most prestigious and rigorous competition promoting sustainable innovation in packaging. Together with the Sustainable Packaging Summit, this will be a high-level and timely contribution to the critical environmental challenge facing the packaging industry and a highlight of our event.”
“In marking the most significant advances in sustainable packaging, the Sustainability Awards aim to focus attention on the possible,” commented Tim Sykes, Packaging Europe’s head of content. “The initiative stimulates discussion, but also promotes adoption and cross-fertilisation of the enormous amount of innovation taking place in packaging technology, whether in the form of early-stage R&D, fully launched solutions or cross-industry collaboration projects.”
For full details and submissions guidelines, visit: sustainabilityawards2018.com
