Plastic film manufacturer DuPont Teijin Films was awarded UK Best Recycled Plastics Product at the 2019 Plastics Industry Awards on Friday (27 September).

The company, which produces PET and PEN polyester films, has gained industry recognition for its LuxCR™ depolymerisation technique, which processes chemically recycled polymer into plastic film. This is compliant with EU food legislation and can be used in a range of industries.

Now in its sixth year, the 2019 Plastics Industry Awards was sponsored by plastics recycling charity RECOUP, which held its annual Plastics Recycling and Resources Conference on Thursday (26 September).

In response to the honour, Steven Davies, EMEA Packaging Market Manager at DuPont said: “We are extremely proud to have won this award and it reflects the hard work and dedication put in by the team to get us to this stage of our project.

“We believe the LuxCR™ process can be seen as a case study to prove the economic and technical feasibility of chemical recycling working alongside mechanical recycling, opening up a wider range of high value, technically advanced end uses for plastic waste.”

Other contestants in the running for the award included Billygoats and Raincoats, a company which makes raincoats from Nylon tents left at UK festivals, and Quinn Packaging, with its fully recyclable black PET food tray.

Anne Hitch, Citizen and Stakeholder Engagement Manager at RECOUP, presented the award, and the evening was hosted by Shaun Williamson, best known for playing Barry Evans in Eastenders.

Commenting on the success of the awards, Stuart Foster, CEO of RECOUP, said: “In a consumer atmosphere where we are experiencing such plastic phobia, it is important we show advances being made in improving circularity both with existing mechanical recycling and how new chemical recycling technologies can be used alongside existing approaches.

“It is crucial that the public start to see how progress is being made in this arena and that plastics are moving forward to a more circular and sustainable future.”

Following the European Parliament’s vote to ban single-use plastic earlier this year, companies are being encouraged to seek out new and innovative ways of recycling and reprocessing plastics. The UK’s Resources and Waste Strategy, published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in December 2018, outlined the government’s plans to reduce plastic waste by committing to all plastic being recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.

You can find out more about RECOUP on the charity’s website.