Washington, D.C.— On Earth Day, April 22, the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) is announcing the beginning of public online voting for its 2021 Re|focus Sustainability Innovation Awards People’s Choice Award.
The PLASTICS Re|focus Sustainability Innovation Awards is an annual event recognizing companies that are pushing the boundaries of innovation—driving environmental advances in product design, sustainable materials and end-of-life recovery of recyclable plastics. In addition to a panel of industry experts who will judge the entries for three awards categories, Design, Materials and End-of-Life recycling innovation, there is a fourth category voted on by the public—the “People’s Choice Award.”
Public voting for the third annual People’s Choice Award is open from Earth Day through April 30 at PLASTICS’ online voting site. Anyone may cast his or her vote for one of 52 outstanding entries based on three criteria: 1) How novel is the idea being proposed? 2) How impactful is the environmental benefit of the idea? 3) How well could the idea be applied on a large scale? Participants in the survey can enter a drawing to win a $50 Amazon gift card.
Past winners of the People’s Choice Award include Imflux for its “Green Curve” injection-molding method and Accredo Packaging for designing a multi-use, fully recyclable, polyethylene stand-up pouch.
“Plastics are a sustainable, environmentally-friendly material and our member companies are leading the way in developing technologies and processes for recovering, recycling and reusing these materials,” said Patrick Krieger, Senior Director of Materials & Sustainability for PLASTICS. “And with the theme of Earth Day this year focusing on emerging technologies and innovative thinking that can restore our world’s ecosystem, voting for our People’s Choice Award is a great way for people to learn about the sustainability leaders in our industry. We had a record number of entries this year, so anyone voting will learn about an incredible range of innovative ideas.”
