Top Innovations from the the Packaging Industry
The Gold Awards of the German Packaging Award 2021 have now also been determined. Whether it is an efficiency-enhancing data management system, economical film packaging printing or greenhouse gas as a raw material: the award winners honored at FACHPACK demonstrate the innovative capacity in the packaging industry.
“The future will not fail because of packaging.” Kim Cheng, Managing Director of the German Packaging Institute (dvi), is certain of this in view in light of the 15 Gold Awards and a total of 52 winners of the German Packaging Award 2021. “Our highly innovative industry is in demand – and it delivers.”
The German Packaging Award is Europe’s largest showcase of achievements in packaging. The 52 award-winning innovations are spread across ten categories – from digitalization to design and finishing, sustainability and cost-effectiveness to packaging machinery and technology. They include solutions made of paper, cardboard, corrugated board, plastic, wood, aluminum, glass and composite board. 15 award winners have now received a Gold Award as a special distinction.
Delivering food more efficiently
In the category of “Digitalization”, Hello Fresh particularly impressed the jury. With “Dynamic Packaging Configuration” (PDC), the cooking box shipper has set up a data management system that makes relevant data for the filling of transport boxes automatically available for the packing process. In this way, packaging consumption can be adapted to the various menu orders. Another Gold Award in the “Functionality & Convenience” category came from the food sector: a to-go package for kebabs. The “Kebag” from submitter Haepsi is a paper kebab bag. It is suitable for direct consumption as well as for takeaway and offers advantages in terms of manageability for both sellers and consumers.
Südpack received a Gold Award in the category of “Economy Efficiency” category, which focuses particularly on sustainability. The solution submitted, based on SPQ (Sustainable Print Quality) technology, transfers the advantages of digital technology to flexographic printing, which is still predominant for film packaging printing, while avoiding production waste typical of the process. As part of a joint project with Goldsteig Käsereien Bayerwald, Südpack succeeded in reducing ink and solvent waste by more than 60 percent when implementing several print images by using the technology.
Greenhouse gas as a raw material
In the category of “Sustainability”, Mibelle Group was one of the companies to score, in partnership with LanzaTech and the Swiss retailer Migros. The possibilities of transforming greenhouse gas into raw materials have occupied the scientific community for some time. LanzaTech cleared the hurdle of commercializing the technology in 2018, and Mibelle Group recognized the potential for the consumer goods market. It developed a process to convert CO2 into ethanol, which in turn forms the basis for many sustainable plastics. Migros recently unveiled one use case: Bottles of smoothies, juices and glass cleaners at Migros are now partly made of PET produced from CO2. Packaging for mouthwashes and liquid soaps is soon to follow.
If you want to know more about the innovations of the German Packaging Award: All award winners can be found at verpackung.org.
