UK-based Nampak Plastics has received the Farm Business Cream Awards for Packaging Innovation, with its Infini bottle from Cream Awards.
Now in its second year, the Awards offer a platform for companies to showcase talent in the dairy industry trade sector.
The Infini bottle surpassed 30 applicants in the innovation category, with three making the shortlist.
Through the Awards, the Infini bottle has been recognised as an innovative and efficient product, which has challenged the norms of the milk bottle industry.
It has resulted in the world’s lightest 2.27 L, 32g bottle, which contains up to 20% less material than a standard bottle, and up to 30% recycled High-density polyethylene.
The company says the bottle use can save the UK milk packaging industry 34,000 tons of plastic resin per annum, and 16,000 tons of carbon.
“Often overlooked, products such as these are simple innovations that can make a great difference to the world, and yet don’t jump off the page, they just do their job quietly, reducing plastic, creating efficiencies,” said the eight judges from the Innovation judging category.
More than 800 million Infini bottles have been sold and it is stocked in retailers including Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons within the UK.
Infini will also be manufactured under license for the Australian and New Zealand markets in 2014, and discussions are in progress with licensing partners in the US, European, Asian and African markets for liquid dairy and non-dairy bottle packaging applications.
