Dow pegs sustainability as key awards aspect

The Dow Chemical Co., Midland, Michigan, has a global presence in the packaging materials sector and will host its 2024 Packaging Innovation Awards ceremony in Tokyo this October.

The awards were created by the company to highlight and celebrate innovations in packaging design, according to Daniella Souza Miranda, global marketing director at Dow.

In the 21st century, the awards also increasingly recognize efforts linked to sustainability and circular outcomes for packaging, says Miranda, who provided additional information to Recycling Today regarding the recycling-related aspects of Dow’s 2024 Packaging Innovation Awards in an exclusive interview.

Recycling Today (RT): Why did Dow create the Packaging Innovation Awards, and what types of innovation have emerged as priorities in the past 35 years? As well, to what extent have sustainability- and recycling-related aspects emerged in the past several years as a priority for nominees (or for Dow)?

Daniella Souza Miranda (DSM): The Packaging Innovation Awards (PIA) effort is a global platform for the industry to celebrate the most transformative packaging designs, spotlighting innovations that harness creativity and technology to solve contemporary challenges across the packaging value chain.

We are seeing regulatory changes around sustainability evolve over the years – for example, as part of the European Union Green Deal, the plastics tax has been introduced to encourage the use of recycled plastic instead of new plastic within packaging. Such developments hold packaging manufacturers more accountable while also challenging the industry to push the boundaries of innovation, which has led to the rapid evolution of, and focus on, sustainable packaging.

Over the years, PIA has received stronger submissions embracing design for recyclability or incorporating postconsumer recycled content. This direction increases the percentage of postconsumer recycled content, empowers more challenging packaging applications or types for circularity, improves the efficiency and provides for an enhanced user experience.

In tandem with this direction, the PIA 2023/2024 edition has upgraded how we value sustainability attributes of a packaging. We will examine aspects such as its full life cycle emissions, manufacturing efficiency and ethical sourcing and production in addition to circularity, to evaluate packaging designs that are in line with what modern society needs.

Dow also is accelerating its sustainability commitments and targets through its efforts to develop a material ecosystem around plastic and renewable waste to deliver its total value. We add value to plastic [scrap] by partnerships with value chains to advance the recycling technologies as well as the collaboration with customers in designing their products for recyclability and converting plastic [scrap] into new products.

RT: What types of people (by occupation) typically submit entries, and what are their incentives for doing so?

DSM: The PIA has received nominations from a variety of participants, ranging from brand owners to packaging manufacturers and designers. They can come from various industries, such as food, industrial, cosmetics, consumer, agriculture, electronics, home care and household.

The award has welcomed household names and ambitious startups alike to participate for the opportunity to be recognized on the world’s stage. Some of the benefits enjoyed by the winners each year include industry-wide recognition and acclaim; opportunity to promote their innovations at major packaging trade shows and conferences worldwide; increased social media exposure. Previous winners also have been spotlighted in leading media covering different industries such as food, consumer packaging, recycling and plastics.

As a global platform that is free for entry, the PIA prides itself as a gateway for them to enter new markets while also gaining access to a wider labor talent pool and revenue streams.

Winning the award is also a testament to the participants’ innovation in packaging – the entries undergo rigorous evaluation by the judges. Apart from being one of the industry’s longest-running independently judged awards, the PIA is chaired by judges from brand owners, converters and industrial associations or institutions around the world who boast an impressive background in the packaging industry. This edition’s panel is also led by David Luttenberger, the 2023 PIA jury chairperson and global ackaging director for [London-based] Mintel Group Ltd.

RT: Why was Tokyo and the Asia-Pacific region selected as the host site for this year’s contest?

DSM: The decision to have Asia-Pacific (APAC) host this year’s edition was to spotlight global packaging innovation against the backdrop of a region with the most dynamic manufacturing sector. We have observed an increased consumer activity amongst the middle class across notable Asian cities across our key segments of food, consumer, health care and even automotive. With APAC as a hub for innovation, this edition will enhance its global footprint to spotlight innovation in this region and its contribution to the global packaging industry.

The decision to have the winners’ announcement in Tokyo was to have it alongside Tokyo Pack 2024, which represents one of the industry’s most prestigious events hosted in APAC. The event is expected to see key industry leaders around the world gathered in the city, which provides winners with the opportunity to gain exposure in a most positive light, in front of the movers and shakers of the world’s packaging industry. Recognition and connections are key business pillars and thus, celebrating the winners at such a platform is more than honor, but great business sense.

RT: Can you point to some recent examples where recycled content or recyclability played a role in an award-winning entry?

DSM: We are heartened to see entries on packaging designed for recyclability or incorporating recycled content grow over the years. Some award-winning sustainable packaging entries we’ve seen include Australian-based O F Packaging’s high-barrier stand-up pouch, the diamond winner of the 2021 PIA, the highest accolade given for the awards. Recognizing that recycling packaging often starts at home, O F Packaging created not only a solution that protected its client’s muesli and granola products, but one that could be easily recycled through curbside recycling systems.

After finishing their breakfast, customers can roll the empty semi-rigid granola pouch into a cylinder while the product label takes on a second life as a sticker to keep the new shape of the packaging. This ensures that it is easier to be recognized by material recovery facility machines and hand-picking, increasing the recycling efficiency of flexible packaging.

We also see a great example in the PIA’s Platinum winner in 2022, the Air Capsule e-commerce package by [Ohio-based] Procter & Gamble, which has pushed boundaries especially when it comes to finding solutions toward a greener e-commerce sector. It leverages a special recyclable polyethylene (PE) film and creative use of inflatable discretized chambers for tailored structural rigidity to create a breakthrough packaging that eliminates need for added dunnage, inserts and tape, while also using about 40 percent less material by weight compared to a current corrugated parcel package. The innovation has had more than 12 patents filed globally – a testament to its potential in resolving today’s e-commerce packaging challenges in a sustainable way.

Aside from these innovations, we’ve also seen previous entries demonstrate how innovation can contribute toward the ecosystem. In 2020, [Germany-based] Henkel AG & Co. KGaA’s Social Plastic Ecosystem in collaboration with [Canada-based] Plastic Bank was a recognized diamond PIA winner. It demonstrated this through its purpose of reducing plastic waste before it can enter the oceans while at the same time improving the lives of people living in poverty, especially in regions that lack waste management infrastructure. In 2017, the How2Recycle label program submitted by the [Virginia-based] Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) also won an award, which was recognized for not only changing the recycling behavior of consumers but also catalyzing design changes in packaging.

RT: About how many entries are likely to be received this year, and are nominees required to classify their entry into categories, such as sustainability, when submitting their entry?

DSM: We are currently reviewing applications, and nominees do not have to select a particular category to submit their entry under. Entries will be evaluated holistically based on how they are making breakthroughs in technological advancement, sustainability and enhanced user experience – packaging of all materials are welcomed.

Deadline for submission is March 22 at 23:59 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The independent jury panel will evaluate all submissions in the week of June 10. Award finalists will be notified Aug. 28 with the awards ceremony set to take place in Tokyo on Oct. 24.