Ecopack: the tenth edition of the CONAI contest gets under way

Applications to take part in the 2023 edition of Ecopack, the CONAI contest for the eco-design of packaging in the circular economy, are open until 28 April. 600,000 Euros are up for grabs.

CONAI launches the tenth edition of Ecopack, the eco-design Contest aimed at awarding the most innovative and eco-sustainable packaging solutions launched on the market in the 2021-2022 two-year period. The Contest offers the possibility for both evolutions of existing projects and completely new packaging solutions to compete, and is open to all consortium-member companies that have revised their packaging adopting at least one of the seven prevention levers (reuse, facilitation of recycling activities, use of recycled/recovered material, raw material savings, optimisation of production processes, optimisation of logistics and simplification of the packaging system).

As the CONAI president Luca Ruini comments: «The impact that a packaging has during the life-cycle is defined in the design phase: it is always important to remember this and to make companies understand that sustainable design is a fundamental tool for effectively shifting to a circular model, safeguarding the planet’s resources».

Higher 2023 prize money

Among the new aspects of the tenth edition, the prize money at stake has increased from 500,000 to 600.000 euros, of which 550,000 are to be divided proportionally to the score obtained among all the awarded projects. The remaining 50,000 euros are, instead, allocated to five super prizes for circular innovation of 10,000 euros each, awarding the enterprises that will have stood out for the facilitation of packaging recycling activities and possibilities for reuse, the use of recycled material, and the promotion of significant new technologies and applications from a design and innovation point of view. One of the five cases will also receive a special mention on the part of Legambiente, while a second mention may be assigned to a project with the merit of having made innovations in the e-commerce sector.

How to take part and how the projects will be assessed

Applications can be submitted until 28 April 2023 by completing the online forms available on the www.ecotoolconai.org website - Contest Area. The projects will then be analysed through CONAI’s Eco Tool, a simplified Life-Cycle Assessment tool, able to calculate the effects of prevention actions in terms of energy saving, water saving and reductions in CO₂ emission, besides (only for packaging cases that facilitate recycling activities) quantities of secondary raw material generated. CONAI’s Eco Tool and the analysis of the cases will again this year be subject to DNV validation, the international certification body. A technical panel composed of consortium figures will then make a further assessment of the cases submitted. Finally, an enlarged technical committee composed of external experts, will choose the five super prize-winners.