EPRO (European Association of Plastics Recycling and Recovery Organisations) has awarded car seats for children, manufactured by the French company, TEAM-Tex, as ‘Best product containing recycled plastics’, for 2009.

Earlier this year, EPRO sent an invitation to the plastics industry calling for examples of products containing recycled plastics. This was done to promote the recycle of plastics, as well as increase the request for recyclables. The plastics industry has embraced the competition, and EPRO received entries from all over Europe, 13 countries all together. A jury from across Europe judged the entries and decided the 2009 year’s winner.

The top three places were shared by four companies and at least six countries.
• Car seat for children, produced by Team-Tex, France.
• Bottle- to- pen, pen produced by Pilot, in France.
• The Nobody Chair, designed in Denmark, produced in Sweden and raw materials delivered by  Wellman International.
• Rfresh PET, PET trays for food, produced by Linpac in Germany and UK.

Worth the Effort
Indeed, consumers may be assured: Hundreds of thousands of tonnes recycled plastics are used as material for new products. Sometimes, the material is cheaper and sometimes the recycled material is just superior to an alternative. The competition, therefore, focused on several criteria. The entries had to contain atleast 50 per cent recycled plastics. They also had to be made out of recycled used plastics packaging. And ofcourse, it was to be manufactured in Europe.

Through this competition, EPRO want to raise the awareness of the consumers, who spend time on a regular basis sorting their used packaging.  These products will be the evidence that shows that – yes – recycling is worth the effort, and highlights the range of options and applications for ‘recycled plastics packaging’.

‘EPRO have been delighted by the level of interest in the competition and highly encouraged to see how far the ‘recycled products’ industry has advanced.  We are grateful to those organisations that entered the competition and reassure you that it was not easy to agree on our winner and runners up.  We plan to hold this competition each year and it will be interesting to see new products in 2010’, commented Francis Huysman, Co Chairman, EPRO.