Awards

The international World Star Packaging Award issued by the World Packaging Organisation (WPO) is open exclusively to winners of national packaging competitions whose packaging is already on the market. The award is given in 12 main categories and four special categories.

In 2022, the third worldwide innovation from Werner & Mertz received the WorldStar Packaging Award. This time it’s for increasing the Yellow Bag material from 20% to 50% in the eco pioneer’s PET bottles made completely of used plastic – a joint achievement with cooperation partner ALPLA.

Every year the international cross-industry competition for the German Packaging Award recognizes ground-breaking solutions and developments for packaging, designs, materials and logistic solutions. Since 1963, an independent jury chooses winners in five categories. The organizer is the German Packaging Institute (DVI) and the patron is the Federal Minister of Economics and Technology.

The German Sustainability Award is an established fixture wherever sustainable brands and concepts are honored. Since 2008 Europe’s most important award for ecological and social engagement calls attention to what Germany’s sustainability pioneers have to offer.

In 2021 the recyclable packaging for the Frosch brand was among the winners in the Design category in which visionary, sustainable packaging concepts were recognized.

Since 2011 the German Design Award has been conferred by the German Design Council to honor innovative products and projects, manufacturers and designers in the German and international design sector.  Award winners are chosen by an international jury of experts.

The completely recyclable stand-up pouch of a monomaterial (polethylene) for the Frosch brand won the German Design Award 2021 in the category “Excellent Communications Design – Eco Design”. This honor shows that appealing design and ecological orientation are not mutually exclusive. The manufacturer Werner & Mertz of Mainz received the award for “outstanding design quality” in the words of the international jury of experts.

Werner & Mertz, in a cooperative project with the global packaging company Mondi, won the World Star Packaging Award 2020 in the Household category for the first completely recyclable pouch of polyethylene with removable label.

“The highly innovative 100 percent recyclable pouch has cleared sorting and recycling hurdles on its way to genuine recyclability. […] That is Cradle-to-Cradle!”, said the jury for the WPO competition about its decision.

In 2019 Werner & Mertz received the German Packaging Award for the completely recyclable stand-up pouch in the Sustainability category and for the shower gel bottles with 100% HDPE recylates from the Yellow Bag in the New Material category.

The Pack the Future Award, organized by Elipso (French association for plastic packaging) and the IK (German association for plastic packaging), is awarded each year during the all4pack trade fair in Paris. The winner of the award qualifies automatically for the World Star Awards presented by the World Packaging Organisation.

In 2018 Werner & Mertz was awarded the prize in the Ecodesign category along with Heinz  Plastics Böhm for the development of caps made of 100% recycled polypropylene.

Also in 2018 Werner & Mertz and ALPLA were honored with the World Star Packaging Award in the Household category for the world’s first bottles made of 100% post-consumer HDPE recyclates from the Yellow Bag. The bottles are used for the brands emsal floor care and green care Professional.

The competition’s judges praised the extraordinary pioneering work in support of genuine material recycling and the protection of limited resources. They also praised the developers for maintaining the products’ familiar appearance and the quality of the bottles, which they said was equal to that of bottles made with virgin material.

The Plastics Recycling Awards Europe are awarded in five categories annually during the Plastics Recycling Show Europe in Amsterdam. The awards’ purpose is to underscore the significance of recycled plastic products and recognize the efforts of the European plastic recycling industry.

In 2018 the award in the category Recycled Plastic Packaging Product of the Year went to Werner & Mertz and The Green Dot for the emsal bottles made of 100% HDPE recyclates obtained from the Yellow Bag.

In 2017 Werner & Mertz received the German Packaging Award in the New Material category for the flip-top caps made of 100% polypropylene recyclates.

Another honor for Werner & Mertz in 2017 was the Pack the Future Award in the Ecodesign category for bottles made of 100% HDPE recyclates from the Yellow Bag.

In the REWE Group consumer voting in 2016, Werner & Mertz took the first three spots and won the German Sustainability Award for non-food entries in the category “Germany’s Most Sustainable Products”. In the nationwide survey consumers selected the Frosch brand products as the top three most sustainable products.

In 2016 Werner & Mertz took double honors in the German Packaging Award – in the Sustainability category and also in Gold for bottles made of 100% HDPE recyclates from the Yellow Bag.

At a ceremony in New York Werner & Mertz received the international Cradle to Cradle Products Innovator Award in 2015 for its Frosch and green care Professional brands. The coveted prize from the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, a non-profit organization with headquarters in San Francisco, is awarded to industrial companies that manage their production according to the Cradle to Cradle^® principle in closed loops for maximum sustainability. The award winners are hailed as pioneers in their industries.

In 2014 Werner & Mertz received for the first time the Special Prize of the German Packaging Award for its Recyclate Initiative and the award Best Packaging 2014 in the Laundry and Cleaning Products category.

Every year the Efficient Customer Response (ECR) Award honors ideas and innovations that companies, in cooperation with others, develop into products or processes characterized by a high degree of customer orientation and a strong focus on sustainable business. The highly respected award is presented annually at a ceremony in Nuremberg attended by about 400 guests from top management at leading industrial and commercial companies.

In 2014 the Recyclate Initiative received the ECR award for the outstanding collaborative work along the supply chain.

Since 2012 the Federal Environment Ministry and the Federal Environment Agency have promoted the annual Federal Ecodesign Award to make the public aware of ecological design’s contribution to environmental protection and to encourage innovation in this area.

The Federal Ecodesign Award puts environmental assessment and design evaluation on equal footing and showcases innovative products, services and ideas of outstanding ecological and design quality.

In 2014 Werner & Mertz received the Federal Ecodesign Award for a particularly innovative and sustainable packaging design that came from the Recyclate Initiative. Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks presented the respected prize to Reinhard Schneider in Berlin.