Fifteen plastics innovators were rewarded at the 2017 Plastics Industry Awards on Friday 27th October to an audience of industry professionals attending the masquerade ball-themed event at the London Hilton on Park Lane in the Borough of Westminster. 

Award-winning product entries at the Oscar’s of the UK plastics industry were the Eglu Cube plastic chicken coop; the Grippledevice for suspending mechanical and electrical services in buildings and Plaxx, an innovative plastic recycling technology.

© J Alexander / © J Alexander / Digital Nation

Winners of the PIA Awards

Winner of the Consumer Product of the Year, supported by the British Industrial Design Association, was Omlet for its ‘Eglu Cube’ chicken coop. Made from ten separate parts, the Eglu Cube is blow moulded, which vastly improved speed of production and ensured the new model was ready in time for the new chicken season, sold in the US, Europe and Australia.

Industrial Product Design of the Year went to construction sector product, the Gripple from UniGrip. The Gripple is designed for suspending mechanical and electrical services and replaces two existing products. Its design reduces the number of components to simplify manufacturing and remove cost.

Best Recycled Plastic Product of the Year, sponsored by RECOUP, went to ‘Plaxx’ the first hydrocarbon feedstock derived from residual waste plastic using a continuous process that can be based at a waste operator’s site. Chemical recycling achieves full decontamination and therefore unrestricted re-use.

Luca Frondella won Young Designer of the Year for the Motus Personal Air Cooler. He received a £1,000 prize donated by Motan Colortronic. Other winners of individual awards included Nigel Baker, managing director of BMB Plastics Machinery and committee member of the PMMDA who was given the Ambassador Award. Erwin Miller of Motan Colortronic won the Unsung Hero category, supported by the Society of Plastics Engineers.

Rosti Automotive, a multiple winner during the seventeen-year history of the awards, scooped a further two prizes this year. The company won the Best Environmental or Energy Efficiency Award, while Apprentice of the Year went to Rosti’s Shannon Martin. She received a £1,000 prize from PMMDA.

The Processor of the Year Award went to Plastek UK, which recently invested £2 million in expansion and skills training and has achieved consistent turnover and volume growth. The company plans to grow further in Europe and was praised by the judges for its state-of-the-art work cells for manufacturing packaging and personal care product.