The Dow Chemical Company announced the winners of 30 packaging innovation awards in 2018. Among them, the highest honor, the Diamond Award, was awarded to Procter & Gamble's Air Assist. This package's "e-commerce and physical packaging" achieved a breakthrough in performance and sustainability.
Liquid packaging technology uses compressed gas to provide tailored rigidity to create flexible film structures. By using a patented one-way valve, the new packaging will provide cleaner rations, more controlled doses, and easier one-handed use, while still being sturdy enough that no additional protection is needed during e-commerce transportation. Air Assist uses 50% more plastic than traditional rigid plastic bottles, and its design uses a 360 ° color palette, making it a more resource-efficient solution.
Diego Donoso, President of Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics, said: "This year, we received hundreds of very powerful submissions that collectively demonstrate our solemn global commitment to serve consumer needs and meet global challenges. This year's winners From innovations in food packaging and e-commerce protection to improvements in medical and hygienic packaging, advances in material technology and accountability for resource use all reflect customer-first design. "
Another winner of the award uses technology for blown PET hand sanitizer bottles, which does not require compressed air. The LiquiForm process from Amcor Rigid Plastics uses packaged products instead of compressed air to synchronize container molding and filling. In this case, through the LiquiForm process, the liquid soap basically forms its own rigid PET container. By combining forming and filling into one step, the process eliminates the equipment and energy costs associated with traditional blow molding processes, as well as the handling, transportation, and storage costs of empty containers.
Amcor has partnered with packaging company Greenblendz (headquartered in Michigan) to jointly develop packaging for Nature ’s Promise brand hand sanitizer and put it into commercial production. The 12-ounce PET bottle produced by Amcor uses the LiquiForm process and is produced on a dedicated machine made by Amcor.
The judges evaluated entries from more than 200 companies from 30 countries. In addition to the Diamond Award's highest honor, the judges also selected nine finalists for the Diamond Awards, eight gold winners and 11 silver winners.