The 12th annual Sapro Awards for the Best Recycled Plastic Products were recently announced, and MAK Plastics took home the top prize.
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The South African Plastics Recycling Organisation (Sapro) brought the industry together at Spyced Restaurant, at the V&A Waterfront, to celebrate the innovators turning waste into worth.
The message was clear: recycling only works when there is a market for what comes out the other end. From wine bottles and personal care packaging to building products and household goods, this year’s winners demonstrated that recycled plastic can compete on quality, performance and design across an increasingly diverse range of applications.
The night's top honour
Winner for the Best Recycled Plastic Product of the Year went to MAK Plastics, capping a remarkable evening for the recycler, which also collected a Gold for the BOPP Wash Basin (Household & Leisure) and two Silvers, for the BOPP Storage Box (Household & Leisure) and the Corrugated PP Sheet (Construction & Building Sector).
MAK Plastics' recognition speaks to a business working to close the loop in the circular economy and keep recyclable material out of landfill achieved hand-in-hand with its partners, producers and brand owners, including RubyNova Plastics, CoreFlute, Ozz Cash & Carry and Wave Paper.
"To give recycled material a fighting chance, you need innovation, companies putting it into new products and into places it hasn't been used before. The Sapro Awards exist to find those companies and give them a platform, to help them reach the consumers and commercial sectors so that awareness and support for these products can grow," says Oliver Bonstein, general manager at Sapro.
“This event celebrates the growth and development in using recycled plastic in the production of new products. The significance of this work is that it creates end-markets for recycled plastics, leading to higher recycling rates and less waste going to landfill,” says Bonstein.
Across the categories, this year's entries showed just how far recycled content can travel, from the bathroom to the wine cellar, from the factory floor to the art gallery.
Here are the winners
In the Creative Category, the Strata Nova Light took Gold, a striking demonstration that end-of-life plastic can become an object of genuine beauty. It brought together Melt Studios as brand owner and Plastic Pioneers as the producer, using recyclate supplied by Ocean Plastic Technologies.
The Innovation Award went to the Eco-Flat Wine Bottle, a reimagining of one of the country's most recognisable products that challenges long-held assumptions about what packaging has to look like. Brought to market by Stellenbosch Vineyards and produced by Polyoak Packaging, the bottle draws on recycled material supplied by Safripol.
In the Packaging Category, Gold went to the Organics and TRESemmé bottles, a high-volume, everyday consumer product that puts recycled content directly into consumers' hands. The winning entry paired brand owner Unilever SA with producer Astrapak, using recyclate supplied by Myplas and Kubili.
The PCR Demand Champions Category, which recognises the products driving real market pull for recycled material, was won by the Tuffy Refuse Bags, a reminder that some of the most important recycling stories are also the most familiar. Tuffy Promotions is both producer and brand owner, drawing on recycled material supplied by Myplas.
Household names gave way to household objects in the Household & Leisure Category, won by the BOPP Wash Basin, a practical, everyday item made better by recycled material rather than compromised by it. Brought to market by Ozz Cash & Carry and produced by RubyNova Plastics, it uses recyclate supplied by MAK Plastics.
The Construction & Building Category produced three Gold winners, all drawing on recycled material supplied by Fenix Rising. The Demand Flush Cistern was both produced and owned by Buffalo Tanks, while KayaX's KayaPod Duo and KayaSan Ablution Pod were produced by Fenix Rising itself. Together they made the case that recycled plastic is ready for one of the most demanding, high-durability sectors in the market: infrastructure that has to last.
A Special Award for Technical Achievement recognised the Plush Suede Renew Range (brand owner Adcock Consumer, producer Plastic Bubbles, using recyclate supplied by Myplas) for its use of polypropylene in a high-performance application demanding both flexibility and colour, the kind of technical milestone that quietly expands what's possible for recyclers everywhere.
Polyco PRO NPC returned as headline sponsor of the Sapro Awards this year, continuing a long-standing partnership that reflects Polyco's position at the heart of South Africa's plastics recycling industry.
As the largest Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) for plastic packaging in South Africa, Polyco implements an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Scheme on behalf of a significant group of the country's local producers, importers, brand owners and converters making it one of the key drivers of compliance, collection, recycling, infrastructure and enterprise development across the plastics value chain.
“South Africa has made significant progress in increasing the collection and recycling of plastic, but the next part of the challenge is ensuring there is a strong and sustainable market for the recycled material we produce, said Polyco CEO, Patricia Pillay.
“The products recognised through the Sapro Awards show what is possible when manufacturers, brand owners and recyclers work together to find innovative new uses for recycled plastic. Creating that demand is essential if we want to keep more plastic in circulation.”
Polyco's continued backing of the Sapro Awards is one part of a broader commitment to strengthening the recycling value chain, alongside investments that support waste pickers, recyclers, and the small businesses that keep the country's circular economy moving.
Other sponsorships came from EPR Waste Association of South Africa (eWASA), Petco PRO, and Starlinger Recycling Machinery.
