Winners of the 2014 Plastics Industry Awards were announced last week by comedian Al Murray at a sell-out black-tie awards ceremony held at the London Hilton on Park Lane. Europe’s largest manufacturer of rigid plastic packaging, RPC Group, won the coveted Processor of the Year trophy as well as the Best Training and Development Programme award for a project at its Oakham site. Meanwhile the impressive green credentials of Logoplaste UK were recognised by the judges who awarded the manufacturer first place in the Best Environmental or Energy Efficiency Programme category for the second year in a row. Logoplaste also won the new category Best Recycled Plastic Product of the Year, for a packaging project with Ecover using ocean-derived waste plastic.
Peter Davis, retired Director General of the British Plastics Federation, who has represented the UK plastics industry at the highest possible level for nearly two decades, was presented with the Personal Contribution Award.
In the design categories, HJC Design won Consumer Product Design of the Year for its work with Innertrak on the Powerhoop; a unique piece of fitness equipment which judges said exhibited “a clever use of materials to provide different levels of exercise resistance – and top marks for aesthetics.” Industrial Product Design of the Year was won by Boddingtons Plastics for its work with water treatment company Fernox-Alent on a new compact in-line filter. Thomas Hamilton was named Young Designer of the Year for his Zebro emergency trauma splint. Weighing less than 1kg, Zebro is the lightest reusable splint on the market and is easily transportable to casualties in remote locations. Judges said Thomas came up with “a well-presented concept, guided by a logical and well-structured process, delivering a very credible product proposition.”
Among the other winners, Matrix Plastics held onto the Supplier Partnership title in the Additive/Compound/Masterbatch category for a second year, and the Supplier Partnership - Toolmaker of the year title was retained by 2013 winners, Sprint Tool & Die who judges said proved that “skills in the UK are still at the forefront in engineering and technology.”
This year’s black tie event was a sell-out with 800 guests including supplier companies, OEM manufacturers, plastics processors, consultants, trainees and designers. Steve Crowhurst, events director at Crain Communications which organises the PIAs, said: “It was an inspiring evening where we celebrated the remarkable achievements of the UK plastics industry. We had entries from talented designers and highly-skilled engineers as well as ambitious and profitable manufacturers who are continually investing in training, R&D and sustainability. Together they are collaborating to achieve great things and fully deserve the recognition of the Plastics Industry Awards.”
Plastics Industry Awards 2014 winners:
Apprentice or Trainee of the Year
Leon Hill, UCP Zeller (Norwich)
Young Designer of the Year
Thomas Hamilton for Zebro
Consumer Product Design of the Year
Powerhoop by HJC Design
Industrial Product Design of the Year
Fernox TF1 Compact by Boddingtons Plastics
Best Technology Application of the Year
Linpac Packaging
Best Training & Development Programme of the Year
RPC Containers, Oakham
Best Environmental or Energy Efficiency Programme of the Year
Logoplaste UK
Best Business Initiative of the Year
G&A Moulding Technology
Best Recycled Plastic Product of the Year
Ocean Bottle by Logoplaste UK
Processor of the Year
RPC Group
Supplier Partnership - Polymer Distributor of the Year
Hardie Polymers and Rosti UK
Supplier Partnership – Ancillary Machinery
TH Plastics and Naylor Drainage
Supplier Partnership - Masterbatch/Compound/Additive
Matrix Plastics and Floreon
Supplier Partnership - Polymer Producer
Petlon Polymers and Ricoh UK Products
Supplier Partnership - Prime Machinery
Ferromatik Milacron and RPC
Supplier Partnership – Toolmaker
Sprint Tool & Die and Richo UK
Personal Contribution Award
Peter Davis
www.plasticsawards.com