Winners of Packnorth Award 2023
There was great interest at the Design Stage at Empack when it was time to present the winners of the Nordic packaging competition Packnorth Award 2023. The competition is organized by Packnews.
Six winners were awarded with diplomas, flowers and champagne. Below you will find the winners and the jury’s motivations. You can read more and see all the entries to the competition in the Packnews magazine issue 4-2023.
Category: Luxury packaging
A.C. Perchs Thehandel
In the Luxury Packaging category, it is often possible to go the extra mile. This year’s winner is a good example. The mini tea calendar from A.C Perchs Tehandel is colorful and mixes metal and cardboard. The jury happily bought the concept:
Jury motivation: This is how you can summarize the annual tea calendar. It is an elegant solution with materials that offer great opportunities for reuse, an important sustainability concept today. The jury made a comparison with Marie Antoinette’s court with boxes in carefully considered pastel colors. It’s decadent in a delicious way. The small tin cans retain the aroma of the tea. The cardboard packaging is made from FSC-certified material. The identity of A.C Perch Tea Trade is clearly visible.
Category: Circular/sustainable packaging
EVLR International AB
Many of the entries in the competition pointed to sustainability and circularity, a hot topic today. Often it is about going from plastic to fiber-based. The winner of the category, FiberStrap, is a good example. The jury liked the solution, its description and the validated LCA study.
Jury motivation: The world’s first cable tie with 98% renewable material. A sustainable material change where the construction plastic polyamide is replaced with material directly from nature. Long fibers from FSC-certified Nordic forests are used. The result is a tape with very high strength that is recyclable. Going from polymeric materials to fiber means a significant reduction in CO2 generation. This also applies to water consumption.
FiberStrap is the only product in Packnorth Award 2023 that has LCA documentation validated by a third party. This gave an extra plus in the jury’s assessment.
Category: Food packaging
ICA Sverige AB
Where’s the innovation was the jury’s first thought when they saw the packaging for ICA Hushållsost. It looks like it always has, but is a pure innovation by going from laminate to mono-material and also with the strength of being able to be thermoformed 15 centimeters.
Jury motivation: A packaging solution that the jury really appreciated. It fits in perfectly with the requirements and wishes of the retail trade for the use of mono-materials, in this case polypropylene (PP). The challenge of meeting the barrier requirements is handled elegantly and the 15-centimetre thermoforming capacity is impressive. In the development work, great emphasis was placed on finding a monomaterial that works in production, can be thermoformed without breaking and protects the cheese well. The result is a package with much less CO2 impact if recycled, and there is great potential for use in other areas.
Category: E-commerce packaging
RAJA
Making machine investments is not a matter of ease for small and medium-sized companies. RAJA has recognized this and developed a carton dispenser for filler paper that is easy to use in manual packing. The jury appreciated the simplicity of an appealing solution.
Jury motivation: Not all e-commerce companies are big companies. Filler paper in a dispenser package is mainly aimed at small and medium-sized companies that want to switch from plastic to fiber-based materials. A smart and practical solution. The filler paper is taken out through a hole in the dispenser and can be easily torn off.
The paper is made from recycled material. The jury appreciated the simplicity but at the same time the smartness of this solution and assumes that the dispenser also becomes its own transport packaging on the way to the customer.
Category: The Nordic Bioplastics Association Special Prize
Duni
The Nordic Bioplastics Association’s special prize is a prize that is not part of the competition’s jury, but is instead chosen by the association’s board.
Motivation: Breeze Cups are marketed under Duni’s BioPak brand. The cups are made from bagasse, a residual product from sugar cane. By using bagasse, you make use of something that is otherwise waste. The cups are coated inside and out with PLA bioplastic, which is 100% renewable. They are certified with “OK Compost Industrial”. Breeze Cups are not intended for hot drinks like coffee but for cold drinks as an alternative to glass.
The Nordic Bioplastics Association appreciates Duni’s work towards a sustainable society and sees the Breeze Cups as an interesting step towards this. Therefore, the association wants to award the Breeze Cups this year. The association sees the award as a source of inspiration for further development of bio-based packaging products.
Category: Packnews Special Prize - Editor-in-Chief's choice
Wellplast
For the first time, the president of the jury, who is not involved in the assessments, was given the chance to choose a favorite. The choice fell on a larger model of industrial packaging that addresses the needs of a new market: batteries for electric cars.
Motivation: An appealing solution to a growing problem. New needs are constantly developing around electric cars. This is one example. Electric car batteries to be disposed of must be handled carefully and safely. They are large, heavy products and, in some cases, fire hazards. In other words, a new market that Wellplast has adopted and developed a sustainable flow for. The packaging goes into a return system and is transported folded when empty. It has a fire textile when needed. The interior is flexible to fit many battery types. It is UN certified, UN 3480. The system of buying back the packaging and recycling the material when it has finally done its job is appealing. The packaging is also used to transport prototype batteries. Electric car batteries are a new market that will grow over the years and a worthy winner of the Editor-in-Chief’s Award.