“The event is a cornerstone of our strategy to grow the demand for plastic recyclate and helps to improve market acceptance of locally manufactured recycled plastic products. By acknowledging and showcasing the remarkable and inspiring range of manufactured goods that can be made from recycled materials, Sapro encourages brand owners, retailers, converters and industrial designers to consider recycled plastics as a material of choice,” says Phil Sereme, general manager of Sapro.
Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s awards ceremony will be a virtual event that takes place on Thursday, 14 October. During the event, the recycler of the material, the manufacturer of the product as well as the brand owner will be acknowledged. Each category will have a winner and the overall winner will be awarded.
According to Sereme, entries will be judged on a number of criteria, such as the life expectancy and sustainability of product, measures that were taken to ensure product consistency and customer satisfaction despite recycled material content, tonnages (or potential tonnages) of plastic waste that were converted and diverted from landfill, as well as the technical achievements in manufacturing to overcome recycled material challenges.
“It is important for us to recognise and reward recyclers for creating new end-markets for recyclate that not only will continue to be in demand five years from now, but that also exhibit a 'wow factor' resulting in people starting to think differently about recycled materials,” he explains.
Sapro has also revealed that various new categories have been introduced for this year’s competition, namely:
The closing date for submissions is Wednesday, 15 September, and entrants are required to deliver the actual, physical product along with the completed entry form, product description and two professional quality, high resolution digital images (minimum of 1mb in size) on a clearly marked CD or memory stick to Plastics SA’s head office in Midrand.
For more information about the Sapro Awards for Best Recycled Product of the Year, to download entry forms and rules as well read more about previous years’ winners, click here.
