Luxury polybags, glass that embraces imperfections, a champagne coffret made of molded cellulose pulp, recycling residual PET….this year’s jury* has unveiled the shortlist of entrants to the LUXE PACK in Green Awards. Visitors to digital platform My LUXE PACK can vote for their favorite sustainable packaging innovation through December 2nd. The winners will be announced that same day during a live webinar.
The awards are organized into two categories, focusing on sustainable packaging and business initiative/approach.
Sustainable packaging product and/or packaging solution
Estal – Wildly Crafted
A portfolio that offers up to 100% PCR content and embraces imperfections in the glass is the premise behind glassmaker Estal’s Wildly Crafted line. Targeting craft brands, the small-batch collection has a “contemporary vintage” design with a rough textured finish and slightly colored glass.
Paptic – Luxury Polybag
Finnish materials company Paptic’s Luxury Polybag is the most recent application using Paptic, a renewable, reusable and recyclable alternative to traditional flexible packaging that can be embossed or foiled. For e-commerce purposes, it can be reused and then recycled in traditional paper and cardboard streams. In-store, items can be sold in the same Polybag in which they were transported, and reused by the consumer at home. The Polybag can be adorned with a resealable sticker.
Made using cellulose from sustainably-managed FSC certified forests, Paptic is said to be between a paper and textile material, with a versatility similar to plastic. It has a soft-touch feel, and can be heat-sealed like plastic, glued like paper and stitched like textile.
Pusterla 1880 & James Cropper – Maison Ruinart Seconde Peau
Ruinart’s Seconde Peau is a mono-material champagne coffret made of molded cellulose pulp. Hugging the contours of the bottle, it uses a specially developed waterjet cutting technology and is free from plastic and glue. With its soft-touch matte finish and a texture designed to recall Ruinart’s chalk cellars, it features the brand’s signature R molded in the material. The cellulose pulp was enriched with a “natural metal” oxide to make it opaque enough to protect the Champagne from light. Seconde Peau is recyclable and is said to offer a 60% reduction in carbon footprint and is nine times lighter than the previous generation of coffrets.
Seaman Paper – Sustainable alternatives to plastic polybags
These transparent paper bags and paper garment covers are billed as an alternative to plastic polybags. The Vela tissue bags are made using FSC-certified paper and are said to be strong and water resistant. The recyclable bags feature vent holes and a seal strip across the top and can be printed in up to two colors on the front and back. The Vela garment covers, which come in a roll with perforations or single sheets, can also be printed in up to two colors using water-based inks.
Sustainable business initiative or approach
DB Groupe – Glassine Recycling Program
DB Premium, a division of DB Groupe, has initiated a program to recycle the waste generated from self-adhesive labels. DB Groupe provides the cardboard boxes to collect the paper waste from its clients, and once enough waste has been amassed, the group arranges to pick it up. A company that recycles roughly 100 tons of glassine (a smooth, glossy paper forming the label backing) generates 75 tons of pulp based on waste from paper backing, according to DB Groupe. This can then be used to produce around 125 tons of magazine paper, which represents around 1,300 trees.
Leonhard Kurz – PET Recycling
Stamping foil manufacturer Leonhard Kurz has developed a process to turn residual PET from carrier foils into injection molding material. The carrier foils from Kurz’s decoration processes (hot stamping, cold transfer or digital transfer) can thus be returned to the material cycle. Kurz highlights the high quality of the resulting material, said to be suitable for “sophisticated” injection molding applications.
Lessonia – CSR Dynamics
Cosmetics ingredients specialist Lessonia is competing for a LUXE PACK in Green Award for its CSR strategy based around four axes: local community, employees, environment and sustainable manufacturing. The company highlights its efforts made during the coronavirus pandemic: it has produced 4 million bottles of hand sanitizer under its newly created Sanidia brand as of the end of June, and contributed €20,000 as a founding member of a co-operative created to produce masks, with the production of 30 to 40 million surgical and FFP2 masks per year set to start this November. It also says it has recruited upwards of 60 employees during the pandemic.
The winners of the LUXE PACK in Green Awards will be unveiled during a live webinar on December 2nd at 4pm Paris time.
*This year’s jury: Sandrine Sommer, Chief Sustainability Officer, Moët Hennessy; Patricia Beausoleil, Head of Home, Environments, Consumer Goods & Lifestyle Creative Director, Peclers; Olivier Wenden, Vice President & CEO, Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation; Sandrine Noel, Sustainable Development Manager, Louis Vuitton; Nicolas Mathieu, Eco-Design Packaging Innovation Manager, Chanel Parfums Beauté.
