EPRO Competition 2013: the winner is Green Warehouse's Ubin
Posted on December, 04 2013
The uBin scrap collector, designed and manufactured by Green Warehouse Ltd. (www.greenwarehouse.co.uk), Bristol in the UK, won first prize in the ‘Best Recycled Product 2013‘ competition, offered by EPRO, the European Association of Plastics Recycling and Recovery Organisations, and the supporting organisations PlasticsEurope, EUPR, EUPC and ACR+. The second prize winner were the vinyPlus façade panels from the German Vinylit Fassaden GmbH (www.vinylit.de). This new, sustainable product connects 100% recycled PVC with a high quality and maintenance-free surface. Chosen for the third place was the eco-core from Wellman International (www.wellman-intl.com), in Ireland, a sustainable polyester staple fibre manufactured from post-consumer PET bottles.
All entries have to meet a couple of criteria, including containing a substantial percentage of post-consumer/post-industrial plastics (50% and over), being a marketable product or a product that entered the market in 2010 or later, being sustainable and having been produced in Europe. In 2013 a panel consisting of representatives of EPRO, PlasticsEurope, EUPR, EUPC and ACR+ from across Europe has assessed the entries and pre-qualified three participants for Identiplast, where the final ranking from 1 to 3 was chosen by the audience.
Ubin was announced as the winner of this award at the Identiplast Congress in Paris on 28th November 2013. Manufacturing engineer Will Hayes, Owner and Managing Director of Green Warehouse comments: "Our stylish uBin is dedicated to encourage responsible recycling of rubbish in offices, schools, universities, hospitals and other typical working environments. That in itself is commendable enough, but the uBin is actually made from UK sourced post-consumer plastic, such as used water bottles, yoghurt pots, coffee cups etc.” His now honoured idea is already proving successful in the marketplace.
The whole event was captured by Cartoonist David Cessac, who has been much inspired by the 3 finalists :
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Winner: Ubin
Copyright David Cessac |
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Second prize: VinylPlus facade panel
Copyright: David Cessac |
Third prize: Eco-core from Wellman
Copyright: David Cessac |
Last but not least, Will Hayes offered the set of Ubin to the Conseil Economique, Social et Environnemental: an unformal ceremony took place in the President office together with Penelope Vincent Sweet, member of the CESE, Head of the Waste Program of NGO France Nature Environnement, and participant to IdentiPlast