Plastic Technologies Award 2015 at the start

The "design competition" by Plast 2015 and Poli.design brings together industry and academia for a contest that combines technology and creativity to break down the impact of waste and promote the recycling of plastic products. Innovative and original concepts for rapid consumption, temporary, single-use disposable products that exploit the potential of specific manufacturing and transformation technologies for plastics; these are the essential elements behind the second edition of the Plastic Technologies Award, the international competition launched by Promaplast, organizer of Plast 2015 (Milan, May 5-9, 2015 ) in partnership with Poli.design, a consortium of the Milan Polytechnic.
The 2015 edition of the competition focuses on the disposal and recycling of products, components and packaging characterised by rapid obsolescence and a connotation of temporary use, or even single-use disposables, such as household utensils, fashion accessories, cosmetics, personal care items, and packaging for rapid consumption products.
The competition confronts a highly relevant issue, reflecting the effects of relentless growth in the sector of rapid consumption in everyday life in Western culture. Many of the products, packaging components and single-use disposable or temporary products that characterise new styles of consumption are in fact designed neglecting the problems associated with their disposal - which is itself inevitably rapid, since the materials, connections and compositions are sometimes non-separable, non-recyclable, or properly disposable.
"The new challenge launched for designers from all over the world by the Plastic Technologies Award 2015 - said Mario Maggiani, CEO of Promaplast - is to design projects that can reduce the impact of disposals, exploiting the potential of production technologies and materials, introducing smart features in the objects themselves that are in line with the needs of potential consumers. In short, projects that can sustainably renew the entire sector of rapidly obsolescent and temporary products".
The competition is open to designers and creative professionals, Italians and foreigners (individuals or groups), professionals or non-professionals, corporate employees and students. Each designer must enter the competition by 3 November 2014, choose a technology category in which to compete (injection moulding, blow moulding, rotational moulding, thermoforming or biopolymers) , and design an innovative product, respecting the theme proposed by the competition, in addition to the constraints and limitations of the chosen production technology. The projects must be submitted by 27 November 2014 as specified in the regulations and all projects must be original, innovative and developed specifically for the competition. The detailed notice of the competition is available at www.polidesign.net/en/PlasticAward2015
The winning projects will be judged and selected by a jury composed of renowned experts in the field, from the Department of Design at the Milan Polytechnic, from ADI (the Association for Industrial Design), as well as from industry. During the initial phase, the jury will evaluate both the project's innovative content and its level of responsiveness to the opportunities and constraints related to the technology; the finalists will thus be identified, and a shortlist will be announced of three competition winners and two winning candidates for each category in the Special Manufacturing Prize. A second phase will follow in which the selected designers will have the opportunity to develop their own concept based on the information received. At this point, the jury will select the winners, who will share the total prize money of 8,000 euros as follows: first prize 3,000 euros; injection moulding award 1,000 euros; blow moulding award 1,000 euros; rotational moulding award 1,000 euros; thermoforming award 1,000 euros; biopolymers award 1,000 euros. In addition, Promaplast reserves the right to prototype the winning projects to exhibit them in the context of the next edition of the triennial exhibition, that will take place from May 5 to 9, 2015, one of the world's most important trade fairs for the plastics and rubber industry.