DS Smith Proves Too Hot For The Competition In This Year’s Horners Award

The winner of the Horners Award for Polymer Design and Innovation was announced as DS Smith’s “Hotbin Mini” compost bin during a visit to Grundon’s waste management facility in Slough on Monday 16 September.

The winner was praised for providing homeowners around the country with a small, slimline unit to help process their waste into compost up to 32 times faster than cold composting bins. Reaching temperatures of 60°c, food and garden waste can be composted in as little as 30 days due to the insulating properties of plastic. The winner’s will be presented their trophy by the City of London Lord Mayor, Peter Estlin, at the prestigious Horners banquet, taking place on Thursday 3 October at Mansion House in London.

The runner-up, and recipient of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) Award was announced as The R & D Factory Ltd, for their development of Streamoulding – a water foaming technology that fits to existing machines to enable lighter weight plastic material to be produced.

The Horners Awards Chairman, David Williams, said of the award this year:

 “Many of the entries this year demonstrated how smart applications of plastic help us solve everyday issues of reducing waste, and help us live sustainably. I was extremely happy to see how the UK industry is proactively responding to the concerns of the public over waste, and how innovations like the Hotbin Mini demonstrate that innovation in plastic is vital now more than ever.”

Due to such strong competition this year, three entries scooped a Highly Commended certificate.

The first Highly Commended was announced as 3DSeed, a 3D printer which works alongside a miniature plastic grinding unit to create 3D printed objects from recycled PET packaging, such as bottles, straight from the home. 

The second Highly Commended product was SecurInject, a single-use dental safety syringe designed to prevent needle stick injuries and cross infections.

The third Highly Commended innovation was the Flip Pad, designed and developed by Futurenova. Flip Pad is a strong and durable iPad case which has been designed specifically to be anti-microbial, making it suitable for doctors and nurses to use in hospitals.

The Horners is believed to be the longest-running plastics award in the world, brought to you by the Worshipful Company of Horners and the British Plastics Federation. Entries for next year’s award can be made online at www.hornersaward.co.uk