After an incredibly competitive year, the Horners Committee announced the winners of several awards for innovation within plastics.
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Plastics Innovation and Design & David Williams Award
Taking home the Horners award for Plastics Innovation and Design is: Suscons’ Emergency Relief Shelter. Its shelter is made from 75% recycled PVC window and door frames and can be 100% recycled after its 10-year lifespan without significant loss in physical properties, creating a closed loop humanitarian society. They can be quickly erected, do not require skilled labour, and provide not only emergency shelter but also longer-term temporary accommodation considering their lifespan.
As the Horners Committee found it to be a practical innovated solution to long term displaced families and homeless people not just in the UK but globally, they also chose to accord Sucsons with the David Williams Award (presented to those who make an outstanding contribution to society through plastics).
Bottlemakers Award For Packaging
This year’s winner of the Bottlemakers Award was Berry Superfos with their Closed Loop Paint Containers, in which waste paint is collected and re-engineered into new paint, while the plastic containers in which the paint was originally packed are recycled into new paint cans for the recovered paint.
This reduces the environmental impact of both the paint and its packaging through the reduction of waste product sent to landfill and the carbon emissions associated with incineration, saving approximately 2.8 tonnes of CO2 for each tonne of plastic not incinerated.
BPF Award
The winner of the 2023 British Plastics Federation Award is Ridgidrain by Polypipe Civils & Green Urbanisation - the very first twinwall surface drainage system in the UK with Highways Authority Product Approval Scheme status, which is made from 100% recycled, high strength HDPE. The judges were impressed with its excellent performance, as the product promotes all the benefits of sustainability (lower embodied carbon, strength, and lower weight) without compromising on long term effectiveness.
The Chairman of the Worshipful Company of Horners Awards Committee Professor Stefaan Simons states:
Once again, we had a strong field of entries, covering everything from kitchen flooring to antimicrobial chemistry. However, Suscons's Transitional Shelter really stood out for its inventiveness and its significant societal impacts, not least in the closed-loop recycling of waste PVC. For this reason, Suscons are worthy winners of both the Horners' Award and the David Williams Award. We also congratulate Berry Superfos as winners of the Bottlemakers' Award for their closed-loop recycled paint containers. It is encouraging to see that both our winners are developing innovative closed-loop solutions that reduce, reuse and recycle materials and help us move forward to net zero carbon emissions.
Sucsons and Berry Superfos were formally presented with their awards at the recently held Horners Banquet by the Lord Mayor. Polypipe Civils & Green Urbanisation will be commended at the BPF Annual Dinner.
Those interested in entering next year’s awards can find details on the BPF website.