BAMA unveils winners at annual awards

The British Aerosol Manufacturers’ Association (BAMA) has announced the winners of its annual awards at the 2018 Forum and Awards Dinner.

Held at the prestigious Oulton Hall Hotel, Leeds, the awards recognise and reward innovation across the aerosol sector.

Winners, runners up and highly commended entrants were selected from four categories:

• aerosol packaging;
• sustainability;
• process safety and training; and
• aerosol of the year.

The awards were judged by the following panel of experts:

• Matt Sykes, technical liaison manager at the Metal Packaging Manufacturers Association;
• Lisa Hipgrave, director of the International Fragrance Association UK (IFRA UK); and
• Paul Jenkins, managing director of ThePackHub.

Commending the winners, the judges said: “The standard of entries was so high – it made it very difficult to select the winners. The entrants were evidence of the industry’s exemplary standards at every stage of the supply chain, whether it’s creating new formulations to designing packing or bringing solutions to waste and disposal. Our congratulations to all the entrants and the very worthy winners.”

The winners and runners up in each category were:

Aerosol packaging

Winner: Lindal Group – Enhanced Mist Technology (EMT)

A two-part nozzle solution for low viscous water-based products, such as water and skin care fluids. Designed to produce a soft, quiet and gentle mist, while also incorporating a streamlined assembly process for fillers.

Runner up: Ball Corporation – Eyeris, it’s all in the detail

A printing technique that enables brands to print photo-realistic details and textures like fur, human skin, fruit, vegetables and more on aerosol cans in the round (offset printing).

Sustainability

Winner: Grundon Waste Management – AeroPak

A newly-developed aerosol recycling plant at Grundon’s Hazardous Waste Transfer station in Oxfordshire. Built at a cost of £3 million, it offers the world’s most advanced closed loop aerosol recycling system.

Runner up: Unilever – revolutionary hairspray

The product uses 50% less propellant per consumer use. The can is consequently smaller and lighter but lasts as long as a hairspray can double its size. The spray is more efficient and targeted with superior spray.

Highly commended: Plastipak – PET Recycling Plant

After acquiring a PET recycling plant out of administration, Plastipak has invested over £10 million to improve product quality and increase capacity. Its bottle-to-bottle process recycles post-consumer PET bottles to a high enough standard that the recycled PET (rPET) can be used directly in new products manufactured by Plastipak. It is the only PET recycling plant in the UK to recycle to this standard and in this way.

Process safety and training

Winner: Alloway – Filled aerosol cap and spray off verification system

A self-financed vision system that looks for leaking spray once the aerosol cap has been placed and checks to see if the cap is fitted correctly. Faulty containers are rejected from the production line with data logs available as an additional quality tool.

Highly commended: Cascade Technologies – All-in-one leak detection/analysis system

An alternative to the water bath, this new leak detection system is based on multiple concurrently running Quantum Cascade Lasers, which measure multiple propellants at the same time to identify leaks. The analyser can also measure the leak rate of aerosol cans via a quick, clean, and non-destructive method with information fed back to the production process/suppliers with no ambiguity.

Aerosol of the year

Winner: James Briggs – RENU Action Paint

A new aerosol paint product, supplied with a non-solvent remover gel that allows the paint to be easily removed, and will not damage or leach onto recommended surfaces. Perfect for customising vehicles, decorating shop windows and many other creative possibilities. 100% removable, errors can easily be corrected and the paint easily removed or replaced when required.

Runner up: Church & Dwight – Batiste Hair Benefits

A new dry shampoo range comprising four new products: Batiste Instant Refresh De-Frizz; Batiste Instant Refresh Hydrate; Batiste Instant Refresh Damage Control and Batiste Instant Refresh Volume. With new formulations developed from scratch, the product also features an improved actuator within a new packaging format.

Patrick Heskins, BAMA chief executive, said: “This year is the 10th anniversary of the BAMA forum and awards and these winners epitomise the high standards which continually push the aerosol industry forward.

“Congratulations to the winners, runners up and those who were highly commended and thank you to all those who entered the 2018 awards. The skill, commitment and innovation showcased in the entries underpin BAMA’s commitment to driving sustainable growth of the aerosol industry.”

The winners in each of the four categories receive a £500 voucher with runners up receiving a £250 voucher.