USA – Berry Global has won the prestigious 2023 Horners Bottlemakers Award for the innovative closed-loop recycled paint container solution for its Paintainer range.
Awarded annually by the Worshipful Company of Horners and the British Plastics Federation, the Horners Bottlemakers Award is hotly contested – and judges confirmed that the 2023 edition saw a strong field of entries.
Berry won for its closed-loop system, which provides a solution to tackle the problem of recycling used plastic paint containers through a circular partnership that combines paint and packaging recovery and recycling.
Although paint containers have been using recycled plastic in their manufacturing process for many years, recycling the containers after use has proven to be difficult. This is primarily due to the challenge of effectively removing the residual paint from the containers, making them suitable for recycling.
Berry’s solution tackles this issue by considering both the containers and the paint as valuable assets. The paint is first removed and re-engineered into new paint by a specialist company, Paint360. This leaves the empty paint cans ready to be recycled back into paint cans again.
“In this way, we are reducing the environmental impact of both the paint and its packaging through the reduction of waste product sent to landfill and the carbon emissions associated with incineration,” explained Jamie Riley, Sustainability Manager at Berry Global.
The judges said: “The initiative marks an important step in the recycling of containers that have residual material in them, in that the challenges in both the washing process and the recovery and reuse of the containers have been overcome.
“All our Awards have a sustainability component within their criteria and your entry certainly sits very well within this ethos.”
As well as its solutions for the paints and surface coatings sector, Berry offers a wide range of plastic containers, pots, and tubs to meet product and branding requirements for a diverse range of markets, including food, pharmaceuticals, and industrial.
Berry adds refill to exclusive Stick Benefits
In another development, Berry Global is launching a refill version of its popular Exclusive stick, ideal for a wide range of personal care applications, including deodorants and solid formula face care and body care products.
Part of Berry’s B Circular Range of sustainable packaging solutions, the Exclusive Refill offers an additional level of reusability to the Exclusive’s existing benefits, which include mono-material construction and the use of recycled plastic. This product aims to support customers in achieving their sustainability goals.
The bottom-filled design of the Exclusive allows fast and efficient filling. Importantly, the refill process significantly reduces contact with the formula to prevent product contamination.
The Exclusive Refill can also be manufactured using recycled plastic, including Berry’s own CleanStream® post-consumer recycled (PCR) material made from domestically recovered household polypropylene waste (PP).
CleanStream® has recently been granted a Letter of No Objection (LNO) from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
The Exclusive Refill is available in 50ml and 75ml. The precision-made parts ensure ease of use for consumers to provide convenient, accurate and hygienic application of products, where there is no need to touch the formula.
“Reuse, recyclability, and the use of recycled content are key elements of Berry’s Impact 2025 sustainability strategy and therefore underpin all our design and development work,” said Thierry Bernet, VP Circular Economy & Innovation for Berry Global CPI.
“The new Exclusive Refill offers customers sustainability benefits while still maintaining its aesthetics and ease of use, supporting individual brand objectives and maximizing consumer appeal.”
