The judges praised the extraordinary pioneering work which benefits real material cycles and the protection of limited resources. Color haze in the bottles could be prevented, said the panel of experts, through the use of white and translucent granules. Furthermore, the judges lauded the developers for maintaining the products' familiar appearance and the quality of the bottles without compromising product safety (compared to bottles made of virgin material).
"This award validates the good working relationships among the partners in the Recyclate Initiative and underscores how effective it is to bundle the power of different industries. We were able to accomplish this extraordinary and ground-breaking pioneer feat only because we worked together and shared the know-how from all of us," said Reinhard Schneider, owner of Werner & Mertz and initiator of the Recyclate Initiative, about the WPO award. "With this development of PE packaging from post-consumer recyclates, we have shown what genuine recyclability looks like and have produced results where other companies claim to have visions or only make promises."
"With the development of these bottles, we faced a unique challenge in packaging production," said Günther Lehner, CEO of ALPLA Werke Alwin Lehner GmbH & Co KG."With the impetus from Werner & Mertz and post-consumer material from the Green Dot, we rose to the challenge together."
Dr. Michael Heyde from the Green Dot (Der Grüne Punkt) added, "The project has set standards for the future of a closed-cycle economy. It shows what we can achieve today with the recycling of post-consumer packaging. Pioneers like Werner & Mertz make it possible for us to continue making great progress. The renewed important award is another argument for other manufacturers to finally put more confidence in high-quality recyclates and to declare the use of recycled material in bottles for detergents, cleaners and cleaning agents to the new standard."
This year's WorldStar Packaging Award honored 200 entrants in 12 categories. The WorldStar Packaging awards will be presented during the AIP National Conference in Gold Goast, Queensland, on 2 May 2018.
In 2016 Werner & Mertz, in cooperation with the bottle producer Alpla-Werke Alwin Lehner GmbH & Co KG and the Green Dot, developed the world's first bottle of 100 percent HDPE recyclate from the Yellow Bag waste collection system. Since then the bottles have been serially produced in top-level quality for green care PROFESSIONAL TANET SR 15 and emsal floor care for hardwood floors. Eventually all PE packaging from Werner & Mertz GmbH will be converted to the new recyclate quality.
