The BPF Horners Awards

Bottlemakers Award For Plastic Packaging 2024: Hawkins Mutes Blowmoulded Brass Instrument Mutes

Hawkins’ Mutes are crafted from high-quality ABS plastic, known for its durability and stiffness, giving exceptional acoustic properties. This choice of material not only guarantees the longevity of the mutes but also delivers a rich, warm tone that resonates with musicians and audiences alike. Interestingly, one of the key elements of production is their utilization of blow moulding, which not only ensures uniformity in each mute but also allows for intricate and complex designs that enhance the acoustic properties of the mutes, and increases the strength of the finished parts.

Innovation & Design 2024: Loughborough University’s Next-Generation Additive Manufactured Police Body Armour

Loughborough university recognised that body armour development for frontline policing had stagnated, especially regarding knife and spike threats. They also noted that recent developments are typically with limited-to-no consideration of female users or individuals that have body shapes incompatible with traditional sizing - which leads to officers wearing body armour that is uncomfortable and less effective. That’s exactly why they developed and successfully demonstrated both polymer laser sintered and hybrid aramid-laser sintered body armour panels, capable of providing multi-strike protection against knife, spike, and handgun ballistic threats – in line with the UK Home Office’s Body Armour Standard. 

Innovation & Design 2023: Suscons' Emergency Relief System

Their shelter is made from 75% recycled PVC window and door frames and can be 100% recycled after its 10 year lifespan without significant loss in physical properties, creating a closed loop humanitarian society.

Bottlemakers Award For Plastic Packaging 2022: Closed Loop Paint Containers

Berry Superfos' Closed Loop Paint Containers collect waste paint and re-engineer it into new paint, while the plastic containers in which the paint was originally packed are recycled into new paint cans for the recovered paint.

Innovation & Design 2022: Variable Diameter Dual Directional Flow Air Ring

An innovative system designed to increase productivity of the blown film process by adding additional cooling above the frost line. Global customers who run VarDAR have not only seen the significant benefit of increased productivity, seen reduced scrap levels (reducing waste), but also improved aesthetic appearance - improving efficiencies.

Bottlemakers Award For Plastic Packaging 2022: Coveris Cheese Pouches

Their specially developed film is the first-of-its-kind, enabling grated cheese pouches to move from a mixed, nylon laminate (one the hardest materials to recycle), to a new fully recyclable PE barrier monolaminate. The packaging is easily recyclable through front-of-store plastic film collections, matches the 90-day shelf life of previous packaging and delivers like-for-like functional performance as the non-recyclable solution.