Awards Take Giant Step Forward In 2003

Awards Take Giant Step Forward In 2003

At a highly successful, well-supported function with 200 attendees on Friday 29 August at PONTOON, Pier 21 Westhaven the Minister for the Environment, the Hon. Marian Hobbs presented 22 awards covering ten categories, including the SUPREME.

Awards were made to those enterprises whose entries were found by the judging panel to represent a significant contribution to the environmental acceptability of packaging, packaging processes and recovery programmes.

The overall SUPREME winner was the joint entry by VERTEX PACIFIC LTD and CALTEX NEW ZEALAND LTD for the 60LTR DRUM. VERTEX PACIFIC LTD and CALTEX NEW ZEALAND LTD also took the 3M INNOVATION IN DESIGN AWARD for the same entry .

The judges noted that the entry featured:

1. Reduced material in initial manufacture
2. Utilised a minimum of 55% recycled HDPE milk bottles
3. Was reusable
4. At the end of life was recyclable into alternative products
5. It represented a co-operative venture between the supplier and customer
6. Featured Environmental Choice label
7. Whole life cycle had been considered

This entry demonstrates the commitment by senior management to not only addresses the environmental issues pertaining to packaging but also to ensure that opportunities are optimised with the manufacturer working closely with the user of the product.

Vertex Pacific has further demonstrated their philosophy of "Closing the Loop" by their early commitment to the Sustainability Programme initiated by Plastics New Zealand.

While membership of the Packaging Council is not a pre-requisite for entry into the Awards programme, Vertex Pacific Limited and Caltex New Zealand Limited are both members of the Council.

Also of interest to members of the community involved in recycling was the success of the Toner Recycling Centre for their recovery of toner cartridges under the ACI Glass Packaging New Zealand Award for Educational / Promotional Programme encouraging Materials Recovery and Palmerston North City Council for their Kerbside Recycling Programme in the category Best Practice by a Council in the Recovery of Steel Cans sponsored by the Steel Can Association of New Zealand.

Both these new categories reflect the push to include the community in addressing environmental issues pertaining to not only packaging, but also participation in programmes giving results. This is consistent with the philosophy of the New Zealand Waste Strategy that all parties industrial, commercial, government and the population at large must commit to the overall objectives of reduction in materials to landfill.

Fifty entries were received for the 2003 Awards for Excellence for Environmentally Acceptable Packaging programme. The number of entries exceeded the 2001 programme by 100% with the judges noting a measurable improvement in the standard of some of the submissions. With another two years before the next Awards programme it is hoped that there will again be a significant increase in the numbers and that the heightened standard noted would be further reflected.

With the packaged goods industry currently developing a new, more extensive Accord involving not only itself but also local and central government with an emphasis on product stewardship and extended producer responsibility the scene is set to realise the improvements sought and expected. However the standard of the winning entries for 2003 is extremely high setting a benchmark for the future and the companies involved are worthy recipients of awards and the Packaging Council of New Zealand congratulates them.

The winning entries are:

AMCOR FLEXIBLES AUSTRALASIA
CONCEPTUAL DESIGN BY A TERTIARY STUDENT

(1first for Wanganui and 2 first equal for Massey)

won by

ANNA GIBSON
WANGANUI SCHOOL OF DESIGN
for
KORBOND COTTON PACK

SARAH CHATTERTON
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEER
MASSEY UNIVERISTY
for
ALTERNATIVE AEROSOL INHALER PACKAGING

and
OLIVER GLEESON
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEER
MASSEY UNIVERISTY
for
ENCOURAGING THE RECYCLING OF OIL FILTERS
THROUGH PACKAGING DESIGN

The judges noted that the entry featured:

KORBOND COTTON PACK - ANNA GIBSON

1. Clever design using minimum materials that shows the product
2. Product is also a storage container for cottons after purchase
3. User friendly and commercially viable

OIL FILTER - OLIVER GLEESON

1. Package simple but effective
2. Entrant went beyond the package to wider environmental issues
both concerning recycling of the oil filter and the oil it contains

ALTERNATIVE AEROSOL INHALER PACKAGING - SARAH CHATTERTON

1. Looked at the package itself and reduced the amount of packaging
2. Taking packaging reduction into drug and pharmaceutical industry from the normal fast moving consumer goods segment

3M INNOVATION IN DESIGN AWARD

won by

VERTEX PACIFIC & CALTEX NEW ZEALAND LIMITED
for the
60 LITRE DRUM

The judges noted that the entry featured:

1. Reduced material in initial manufacture
2. Utilised a minimum of 55% recycled HDPE milk bottles
3. Was reusable
4. At the end of life was recyclable into alternative products
5. It represented a co-operative venture between the supplier and customer
6. Featured the Environmental Choice label
7. Whole life cycle had been considered

ACI GLASS PACKAGING NEW ZEALAND
EDUCATIONAL / PROMOTIONAL PROGRAMME
ENCOURAGING MATERIALS RECOVERY AWARD

won by

TONER RECYCLING CENTRE
for the
RECOVERY OF TONER CARTRIDGES

The judges noted that the entry featured:

1. That the entire product is recovered
2. What cannot be reused is further disassembled for a subsequent use
3. Effective educational material with proactive collection system featuring incentives
4. Recovery for reuse and recycling of a difficult product package that is usually contaminated with ink from toner powder

AUCKLAND REGIONAL COUNCIL
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT AWARD

won by

CARTER HOLT HARVEY CASE AUCKLAND
for
PRINT CLEANING UPGRADE

The judges noted that the entry featured:

1. Reduced chemical use
2. Decreased water use and that which is used is collected and effectively treated
3. Non disposal of waste water into storm water system
4. A reduction in labour requirements
COCA-COLA AMATIL (NZ) LTD
SYSTEMS AWARD

won by

ENZAFOODS NEW ZEALAND LTD
for
FRESH FIELDS POUCH PACK APPLE

The judges noted that the entry featured:

1. The system has been created to meet the customer's requirements
2. The package is easy to open and dispose of
3. Uses 59% less packaging weight to deliver the same weight of apple
product
4. Represents a big systems change with energy savings

AEP INDUSTRIES (NZ) LTD
PLASTIC AWARD

won by

NEW ZEALAND DAIRY FOODS LTD
for
1 & 2 LITRE ANCHOR BOTTLES, CONE SEAL CAP AND
H-CRATE

The judges noted that the entry featured:

1. A returnable crate
2. Accommodated consumer requirements for the removing of the tamper-evident ring
3. Common material used for bottle and cap

CARTER HOLT HARVEY PACKAGING
PAPER AWARD

won by

UNILEVER AUSTRALASIA & AMCOR CARTONS AUSTRALASIA
for
TWO-PIECE WASHING POWDER CARTON

The judges noted that the entry featured:

1. Reduced material usage and waste
2. Utilised more recycled material
3. Whole systems approach to the development of package
4. Co-operation between supplier and client for outstanding end result

STEEL CAN ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND
BEST PRACTICE BY A COUNCIL IN THE RECOVERY OF STEEL CANS AWARD

won by

PALMERSTON NORTH CITY COUNCIL
for their
STEEL CAN RECOVERY PROGRAMME

The judges noted that the entry featured:

1. A specific programme resulting in a measurable increase in steel can recovery
2. A high quality of recovered materials
3. An ongoing pro-active approach to increase recycling by making it easier and not requiring the cleaning of the cans

VERTEX PACIFIC LTD
RECOVERED PACKAGING AWARD

won by

VISY RECYCLING &
ACI GLASS PACKAGING NEW ZEALAND
for
RECYCLED GLASS CULLET
and
330ML HEINEKEN BOTTLE /
330ML STELLA ARTOIS BOTTLE

The judges noted that the entries featured:

1. High levels of recovered glass packaging
2. High levels of processed cullet in the new product (ACI)
3. A significant contribution to the recovery of a packaging material
from the community

THE PACKAGING COUNCIL OF NEW ZEALAND (INC)
SUPREME AWARD

won by

VERTEX PACIFIC / CALTEX NEW ZEALAND LIMITED
for the
60 LITRE DRUM

The judges also awarded 5 Highly Commended and 1 Commended award over the range of categories and these will be featured at the New Zealand Trade Centre - 26 Albert Street - Auckland on the 15-17 September.

1. HIGHLY COMMENDED in the ACI MOST SUCCESSFUL EDUCATIONAL / PROMOTIONAL PROGRAMME ENCOURAGING MATERIALS RECOVERY category
Paper Reclaim for 'Officycle' Material Recovery Programme

2. HIGHLY COMMENDED in the AUCKLAND REGIONAL COUNCIL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT category
NCI Packaging for "Eco Therm" The Total Environmental Package

3. COMMENDED in the COCA-COLA AMATIL (NZ) LTD SYSTEMS category
Fluteboard Group Ltd for New Zealand Post Mail Tray & Sleeve

4. HIGHLY COMMENDED in the STEEL CAN ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND BEST PRACTICE BY A COUNCIL IN THE RECOVERY OF STEEL CANS category
North Shore City Council - Steel Can Recovery

5. HIGHLY COMMENDED in the VERTEX PACIFIC LTD RECOVERED PACKAGING MATERIALS category
Visyboard NZ Ltd for Korromatt®

6. HIGHLY COMMENDED in the AMCOR FLEXIBLES AUSTRALASIA CONCEPTUAL DESIGN BY A TERTIARY STUDENT category
Lee Soo Yien of Wanganui School of Design for "School Eraser".

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