MEET OUR 2026 FINALISTS
Circular Plastics
Innovations aiding the transition to a circular economy in polymers. Technologies supporting recyclability, facilitating increased recycling rates or bringing more recycled plastic content back into new packaging.
1000-Litre PET Water Tank
CYPET Technologies (Cyprus)
Food-safe rPP
Prevented Ocean Plastic (UK, Indonesia)
O2Blox nylon-free PET oxygen barrier technology
Plastipak (Belgium)
TEGO® Res 1100 - The innovative co-binder for solventborne packaging inks
Evonik Operations (Germany)
Climate
Packaging innovations that drive resource efficiency, e.g. through downgauging or reducing the carbon footprint of materials, or reducing the overall climate impact of packaged product itself, without causing other unintended environmental impacts.
ComforLid with low carbon aluminum
Constantia Flexibles (Germany)
EcoCore® cap for Air Wick air freshner refill
Bockatech & Vestacy (Europe)
FlexPrep™ portion dispensing system
Sealed Air – CRYOVAC® Brand Food Packaging (US and EMEA)
Interpac 1250 cold corrugator
Interpac (Canada, Europe)
Swift®tak PM 4400 enabling cold corrugation production
HB Fuller (Germany)
Digital Transformation
Eligible for solutions supporting sustainable transformation in packaging through digital innovation, AI or connected packaging.
Data-driven packaging optimization platform
QuantiPack AI (USA)
Decision support platform
EcoSource Packaging Intelligence (UK)
Integrated platform for sustainability reporting at scale
Specright & Lorax (USA, EMEA)
National deposit return system for digital DRS
CLUBZERØ (UK)
QI suite - controlling and optimizing PCR
Resycure (Germany)
Driving the Circular Economy
Breakthroughs and innovations in recycling, sorting technologies, driving increase in recycling rates, or boosting use of recycled feedstocks in packaging.
Food-safe r-PP
Innovia Films (Global)
KandyKote® – Chappies Gum Wrapper for Mondelēz
SealGlobal.Co (South Africa)
Plastic-Free Morro™ coating for folded cartonboard
Xampla and Huhtamaki (Europe)
Ready-meal paperboard ovenable tray with Mater-Bi® coating
Novamont (Italy)
STEINERT AI enables foodgrade tray recycling at Cirrec
STEINERT (Netherlands)
Renewables
Development or innovative use of bio-based materials (such as fibre-based or bioplastics) with significant positive impact or potential in packaging applications.
Ad/Vantage smooth brown semi extensible kraft paper
Mondi (Austria)
Fiber Box — Moulded fibre transport packaging for chilled seafood
PAPACKS® (Germany)
Holy Carp home compostable soy sauce fish
Heliograf, Vert Design (Australia)
Paper based pallet column locks
Mpact Corrugated (South Africa)
UPM Circular Renewable Black™ - bio-based, NIR-detectable, black pigment
UPM (Germany)
Reuse
Innovative solutions and innovative applications of reusable or refillable packaging systems.
Double Circular reusable 1 kg ice cream container
Xipa (Argentina)
EINFACH MEHRWEG Prefill
Sykell (Germany)
Pioneering reuse schemes using EcoCore® cups
Bockatech & partners (Europe, USA)
Reusable packaging for Telecom Logistics
KIUD & Telia (Estonia, Norway, Finland)
Sulapac Solid 2.0 biobased, dishwasher proof material for reusables
Sulapac & Hesburger (Finland, Lithuania)
Start Up - New Materials
Start-up technologies introducing innovative materials with positive environmental impacts that can be used in packaging applications.
Bio-based black pigments and inks
Living Ink Technologies & 100+ Accelerator (USA)
High barrier paper for flexible packaging
Nfinite Nanotechnology, Amcor (Canada)
Moulded fibre made from fallen leaves and bamboo
Z1RO Europe (France, Ukraine)
PET with –40°C to 220°C heat-stability range
Thermapet Technolgies (Singapore)
Seaweed-based recyclable and biodegradable high-barrier coating
Kelpi (UK)
Start Up - New Systems
Sustainable packaging formats and systems developed by start-ups.
AI-powered autonomous waste sorting system
Antfarm (Netherlands)
Decontamination technology for flexibles
COtooClean & Coveris (UK)
Fossil-free PP & PE at scale
Vioneo (Europe, China)
Swift and strong reusable boxes
KWiiD (Switzerland)
Thinking Big
Initiatives, projects and collaborations that make an outstanding contribution to minimizing the environmental impact of packaging and its supply chain.
AI-enabled sustainable packaging with biomaterials
Colgate-Palmolive & Erthos (USA, Canada)
Ecotrace: industry-wide packaging traceability infrastructure
Polytag (UK)
Embalagem do Futuro® (Packaging of the Future) project
VANGEST, NERLEI CCI & INOVA+ (Portugal)
HolyGrail 2.0 value-chain consortium proving viability of digital watermarking technology
AIM - European Brands Association & partners (Denmark, Germany, Netherlands)
REPASYS – Reusable Packaging System
Pack4Food, FlandersFOOD, VIL, REUseLab, Colruyt, AlbertHeyn, Carrefour, Delhaize, Lidl, Aldi, Rotion, DeSter, MIVAS, Made & FostPlus (Belgium)
Research & Development
Early stage research and development in materials, processes and technologies that have packaging sustainability applications.
CUBO logistics-optimised square cup
Greiner Packaging (Austria)
Bio-polymer coating for corrugated cardboard for food contact
Embalagem do Futuro® & Polytechnic University of Leiria (Portugal)
Net zero waste through reusable structural skeleton architecture
Serioplast (Italy)
PMA MAP technology: shelf-life extension system for fresh produce
Teagasc (Ireland)
UniLEAF acrylicfree flexo ink extender
Siegwerk Druckfarben (France, Germany)
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