Hall of fame: Six Gold Awards at the German Packaging Award
The German Packaging Institute (dvi) announced the winners of the Gold Awards at this year’s German Packaging Award on 27 September at a special industry event on the first day of FACHPACK trade fair. The six best innovations of 2022 come from the economic efficiency, sustainability, digitalisation, packaging machines and young talent categories. The 32 innovative solutions that had already won a German Packaging Award in August were also celebrated.
The dvi announced the winners of this year’s German Packaging Award at the end of August. The winners of the prestigious Gold Awards have now also been announced on the first day of FACHPACK trade fair in Nuremberg. “The jury of the German Packaging Award has a special award to honour innovations that stand out even among the packaging award winners: the Gold Award,” explains Dr Bettina Horenburg, Director Corporate Communications at Siegwerk Druckfarben and, in her capacity as a member of the board of the dvi, overall responsible for the German Packaging Award.
In the end, there were an impressive six Gold Awards. The top honours went to a fundamental innovation in film laminating technology; a remarkably sustainable and ingeniously child-safe box for laundry tabs; an extremely lightweight and fully recyclable two-part PE monomaterial tube with high PCR content; software for measuring and optimising recyclability; an innovative pharmaceutical machine solution for the smallest batch sizes, high format flexibility and minimal operator intervention; and a pump dispenser with standard DIN thread and integrated dosing spoon, which means safe dosing especially for people with motor or visual impairments.
The network celebrates
The awards ceremony, hosted by dvi managing directors Kim Cheng and Winfried Batzke, was held in front of a full house in the PACKBOX at FACHPACK. The industry celebrated the winning innovators and their innovations with stage talk and music as well as at the dvi’s networking evening after that, which presented the ideal opportunity to make new contacts along the entire value chain and cultivate existing contacts in a relaxed, expert setting.
After a short talk with representatives of FACHPACK, igepa Group and Packaging Valley as premium partners of the German Packaging Award 2022, the winning innovators received their certificate and well-deserved acclamation on stage. Afterwards, Kim Cheng and Winfried Batzke announced the winners of the Gold Awards.
Jury member Professor Jens-Peter Majschak from the Technical University of Dresden and dvi managing director Winfried Batzke highlighted the innovative achievements of the Gold Award winners in the packaging machine and economic efficiency categories respectively in their laudatory speech. Katja Feeß gave the laudatory speech for the winners of the young talent category. FACHPACK provided a very special award here. The Packaging Valley representative, Martin Buchwitz, gave the eulogy for the two Gold Award winners in the sustainability category. Malte Andresen from the media partner Packaging Journal had the honour of praising the winner in the digitalisation category.
“The German Packaging Award is the biggest and most prestigious packaging performance show in Europe. Our six Gold Award winners from Germany and France, together with the 32 other packaging award winners, are representative of the entire value chain and clearly demonstrate that people, the economy and the environment can rely on the innovative power of the industry. The companies’ achievements are rays of hope in uncertain times,” emphasises Dr Bettina Horenburg.
A Gold for economic efficiency
A fundamental innovation in film laminating technology comes from POLIFILM EXTRUSION GmbH. The Gold Award-winning, self-laminating polyethylene (PE) film simplifies production and generates significant savings in energy and investment. This not only replaces the classic drying process which until now has been necessary, but also the maturing time of at least two days. This makes the system much more compact and means it is no longer necessary to dispose of solvent and solvent residues.
Two Golds for sustainability
Procter & Gamble Service GmbH also won a Gold Award. Their P&G ECOCLIC® Box for liquid laundry capsules is an innovative box for laundry detergent tabs. It saves significant amounts of plastic and transport capacity and is made from 70 per cent FSC-certified material. The box offers another added value, a new, ingenious child safety lock that, even though very simple and integrated inconspicuously, still functions completely reliably.
A Gold Award also went to the Albéa Group from France for their EcoFusion Top tube with Thin-Wall & PCR Max. The two-part tube impressed with its consistent sustainable design. For example, there is a weight saving of around 30 per cent by reducing the tube wall thickness to an absolute minimum. Streamlining the closure cap resulted in an impressive 80 per cent weight saving compared to comparable standard closure caps. The PE monomaterial tube is fully recyclable and consists of 42 per cent PCR.
A Gold for digitalisation
The Chira software solution from the cyclos-HTP GmbH institute also fully merits its Gold Award. This innovative tool enables transparent, quantitative balancing of the recyclability of packaging, is practicable and is legal and standard-compliant. The assessment is carried out for all material types with EU-wide scope in national differentiation and in conformity with the German minimum standard. Intelligent query menus for individual packaging types and an archiving of the evaluations are embedded in the program. The software can also be used as a tool for packaging optimisation, directly showing the effect on recyclability attributable to varying individual design details.
A Gold for packaging machines
Gold also glistens in the pharmaceutical machinery sector. Syntegon Technology GmbH has developed Versynta microBatch, an absolutely compelling solution that is extremely compact and offers high format flexibility with minimal operator intervention. The innovation gives improved reproducibility, process monitoring and documentation as part of the increased degree of automation. It also reduces the potential for errors and expensive downtime for format changes, sterilisation or malfunctions.
A Gold for young talent
The youngest Gold Award winner comes from Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle. Student Hélène Fontaine richly deserved this award for her innovative pump dispenser with standard DIN thread and integrated dosing spoon, which means safe dosing especially for people with motor or visual impairments.
Exhibition and dvi presence at FACHPACK
The dvi will be represented during FACHPACK in Pavilion of Associations in Hall 5, Stand 309. The packaging industry network will be showcasing a selection of this year’s packaging award winners there. “We cordially invite all FACHPACK visitors to visit us in the Pavilion of Associations and look forward to speaking with you directly and in person. Get to know us and discover what we have to offer and the many benefits that dvi membership brings,” says Dr Horenburg.
The dvi will also be represented at two FACHPACK events. dvi Managing Director Kim Cheng will moderate the “Digital & Smart: Award-winning concepts in a hands-on setting” slot on 29 September from 1:00 to 1:30 p.m. in the PACKBOX, Hall 9 Stand 9-309. And dvi Managing Director Winfried Batzke will take part in the FACHPACK finale “Wrap-Up – Fachpack 2022” on 29 September from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. in the TECHBOX, Hall 3C Stand 3C-421.