The nomination period is closed – winners will be announced on Earth Day!
The Plastic Sustainability Innovation Awards shine a spotlight on trailblazers who are pushing the boundaries of what's possible in sustainable plastics manufacturing. These awards celebrate the bold and creative innovations that are making a tangible difference in our world, spotlighting achievements in sustainable design, materials innovation, and responsible end-of-life solutions.
The awards focus on three core criteria to identify the most impactful innovations:
Innovation
How revolutionary is the concept, and does it push the boundaries of what's possible in plastics?
Environmental Impact
What measurable benefits does this innovation offer for the
environment?
Market Impact
How scalable and influential could this innovation become in the
marketplace?
This prestigious recognition is not just about celebrating success—it's about inspiring the industry to embrace the future of sustainable manufacturing, where innovation and environmental responsibility go hand in hand. These awards, along with the Innovation in Bioplastics Award, will be presented at a future PLASTICS event. The 2025 Sustainability Innovation Awards nomination period has closed. The next program will open in October 2025! Read the Official Rules here.
Award Categories
Leadership in Sustainability Innovation Award
Celebrating the ultimate trailblazer, this award honors the standout leader across all
judging criteria. This top-tier recognition can be claimed by any applicant from any of the three core categories, showcasing unmatched innovation, environmental impact, and market influence.
Sustainable Innovation in Design Award
This award highlights a groundbreaking innovation in product, equipment, or process
design that prioritizes recyclability, combats litter, promotes compostability, or pioneers equipment that enables cutting-edge product creation. It's about turning visionary ideas into sustainable realities.
Sustainable Innovation in Materials Award
This award celebrates a remarkable breakthrough in the development or application of
sustainable materials, including bioplastics, recycled content, or advanced additives that elevate the product’s sustainable attributes. It's a nod to those who are redefining what's possible with eco-friendly materials.
Sustainable Innovation in End-of-Life Award
This award honors a pioneering innovation in circularity processes or equipment that
takes sustainability to the next level. It's awarded to those who are transforming how we
think about and manage the end-of-life phase of products, turning waste into valuable
resources.
People's Choice Award
For this award, the power lies in the hands of the public. Nominations for the Innovation Awards enters the running for the People's Choice Award, with proposals showcased across PLASTICS' channels. The innovation that garners the most votes wins, making this a true celebration of community-driven excellence.
KEY DATES
October 1, 2024
Nomination period opens
February 14, 2025
Nomination period closes
January 27, 2025 – March 7, 2025
Nominations are judged
Mid-March, 2025
Winner is notified
April 22, 2025
(Earth Day)
Winner is announced
ABOUT THE PLAQUES
The award plaque embodies the essence of this awards program, which is plastic sustainability and innovation. The most recent award plaques were manufactured by Plastic Forming Enterprises (PFE) and made with recycled bottle caps. The design allowed PFE to try out a new process, which ended up being a success! PLASTICS truly appreciates Plastics Forming Enterprises for their contribution in helping these awards come to life.
AWARDS ARCHIVE
PLASTICS is proud to have awarded these five honors since 2019. Take a look at the previous winners of the Plastic Sustainability Innovation Awards.
2024
Leadership in Plastic Sustainability Innovation – Polycarbin for their Circular Economy for Laboratory Plastics and Carbin Counter Platform
Polycarbin has a complete closed loop system for collecting, recycling, and re-manufacturing laboratory plastic products such as pipette tips, tubes, tube racks, etc. They also provide tracking software, Carbin Counter, that relays the information back to users in the form of meaningful metrics including scope 3 emission reductions, water conservation, landfill diversion, and more.
Plastic Sustainability Innovation in Design – Eastman for their New Molecular Recycling Facility
Eastman’s new material-to-material molecular recycling facility in Tennessee is the largest in the world with the capacity to process 110,000 metric tons of polyester waste that would otherwise go to landfill or incineration. Eastman’s process reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 20-50% when compared to traditional processes.
Plastic Sustainability Innovation in Material – Bantam Materials for their Prevented Ocean Plastic
Bantam Materials UK Ltd. Creates a market for discarded PET in countries with severely lacking recycling systems. Through this work, they have directly supported the construction of 13 collection centers, generated over 500,000 bottle collector workdays, created nearly 2,000 jobs, and prevented more than two billion bottles from entering the ocean.
Plastic Sustainability Innovation in End of Life – Ultra-Poly Corporation for their ELV Bumper Recycling Program
Ultra-Poly Corporation developed a complete reverse logistics collection program with autobody shops for bumper covers, a previously wasted material. They recycle about 1.2M lbs./yr. The recycled pellets are now in commercial production of a Wheel Outer Liner for GM heavy Duty pick-up trucks, completing vehicle to vehicle circularity.
People’s Choice Award – PureCycle Technologies for their PureFive Ultra-Pure Recycling Process
The game-changing polypropylene recycling technology that PureCycle uses consists of seven main process stages that help close the loop on plastic waste while making recycled plastics more accessible at scale. The unique purification process uses extraction and filtration to remove color, odor, and other impurities from PP waste resulting in an industry-first Ultra-Pure Recycled resin that can be recycled and reused multiple times.
2023
Leadership in Sustainable Innovation Award Winner – Amcor Rigid Packaging for their:
- QuantumTM Premium Lightweight Finish Technology
- PowerPost™ Lightweighting Technology
- PepsiCo 2.5 L PET Returnable, Reusable, and Refillable Bottle
Sustainable Innovation in Design Award Winner – Avient Corporation for their Color Prediction Service (CPS)
Sustainable Innovation in Materials Award Winner – Envision Plastics for their EcoPrime® Fit for Food Contact HDPE and PP PCR
Sustainable Innovation in End-of-Life Award Winner – ExxonMobil for their ExxtendTM Technology for Advanced Recycling
People’s Choice Award Winner – Solvay for their Amodel® Bios PPA. Amodel®
2022
Leadership in Sustainable Innovation Award Winner – Ford Motor Company – for their:
- Built Wild: Ford Bronco Sport Featuring Parts Made of 100% Recycled Ocean Plastic ‘Ghost Gear.’
- Nanocellulose Enhanced Flexible PU Foams and Industry FIRST Closed Loop
- Recycling Additive Manufacturing Waste to Replace Injection Molded Automotive Parts.
Sustainable Innovation in Design Award Winner – Klockner Pentaplast for their kpNext™ R1: recyclable PET blister film.
Sustainable Innovation in Materials Award Winner – Starlinger Viscotec for their rPET100: Heat Resistant and Fully Recyclable Material.
Sustainable Innovation in End-of-Life Award Winner – JP Industrial Products for their AERO Screening Technology (Aspiration-Elutriation-Reduction-Optimization).
People’s Choice Award Winner – Novoloop, Inc. for their Oistre™ Thermoplastic Urethane (TPU).
2021
Leadership in Sustainability Innovation Award winner – Chevron Phillips Chemical for converting difficult-to-recycle plastic waste into top-quality raw materials.
Sustainable Innovation in Design Award winner – Garçon Wines for their 100% PET flat wine bottle.
Sustainable Innovation in Materials Award winner – Ford Motor Company for their composite incorporating biomaterial from coffee.
Sustainable Innovation in End-of-Life Award winner – Digimarc Corporation for their digital watermarking solution, or “digital recycling passport”.
People’s Choice Award winner – Ford Otosan for their automotive fan shroud produced with 50% recycled material.
2020
Leadership in Sustainability Innovation Award winner – PureCycle Technologies for their physical separation and purification process.
Sustainable Innovation in Design Award & People’s Choice Award winner – Accredo Packaging for their AccredoFlex® RP™ Gen2 pouch that is made with polyethylene (up to 25% biobased resin) and fully recyclable.
Sustainable Innovation in Materials Award winner – Vartega for their reclaimed and recycled carbon fiber.
Sustainable Innovation in End-of-Life Award winner – Eastman for their Carbon Renewal Technology (CRT).
2019
Leadership in Sustainability Innovation Award winner – UBQ Materials for their propriety conversion process of converting household waste into new materials.
Sustainable Innovation in Design Award winner – Tarkett for their ethos® Modular Carpet Tile with Omnicoat Technology which was created using recycled material from disposed windshields and safety glass.
Sustainable Innovation in Materials Award winner – Dell for their Latitude 5000 Notebook containing 50-percent recycled content by weight.
Sustainable Innovation in End-of-Life Award winner – Circular Polymers/Broadview Group for their Rotary Impact Separator which disassembles post-consumer carpet into clean face fiber, clean backing fiber and a limestone granulate.
People’s Choice Award winner – iMFLUX for their philosophy and method for injection molding called the “Green Curve"