ISRI has launched entries for the 2023 Design for Recycling® (DFR) Award. The DFR Award is ISRI’s highest award given annually to the most outstanding contribution to products designed with recycling in mind. ISRI’s highest award recognizes manufacturers who design with recycling in mind in the same manner they consider cost, safety, and other factors.
“The role of recycling in manufacturing is perhaps more critical than ever,” says ISRI President Robin Wiener. “As manufacturers work to ensure sustainability goals are met, and supply chains are not disrupted, incorporating recycling into a products design from the conception phase is the answer. Now is the time to applaud those manufacturers who factor in recyclability when designing their products.”
The DFR Award recognizes proactive steps made by manufacturers who have actively incorporated DFR principles into products and processes.
Last year, ISRI named Sonoco Alloyd as its 2022 Design for Recycling® (DFR) Award winner. Sonoco received the award for its revolutionary Sonoco Alloyd EnviroSense® PaperBlister™ package that offers a recyclable alternative to traditional retail plastic-to-card blister packaging.
Made entirely from renewable resources, the mono-material package is plastic-free, so it is recyclable in the paper stream. While the company’s main bread-and-butter is its plastics packaging, this all-paper packaging gives customers the opportunity to think differently and think sustainably, says Kim Sanderson, marketing specialist at Sonoco Alloyd’s DeKalb facility.
Previous winners include, Nestlé Waters North America, Lexmark, Cascades Fine Papers Group, Coca-Cola Recycling Company, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, EcoStrate SFS, and Cascade Engineering.
To be eligible for ISRI’s Design for Recycling Award, a product must be designed/redesigned and manufactured to be:
- Easily recycled through current or newly designed recycling processes and procedures;
- Cost effective to recycle. whereby the cost to recycle does not exceed the value of its recycled materials;
- Free of hazardous materials that impede the recycling process;
- Maximizing the use of recycled materials and/or components within product manufacturing; and
- Having a net gain in the overall recyclability of the product while reducing its overall negative impact on the environment.
Interested parties can enter online before Feb. 17, 2023 deadline. Applicants will be notified by March 20, 2023. The winner will be officially recognized at the ISRI2023 Convention and Exposition to be held April 17-20 in Nashville, Tenn.
Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash.
