Introduction

The European Carton Excellence Award is the showcase event for the European cartonboard and carton industry. Every year the wide range and capabilities of the industry are deservedly put under the spotlight. The award clearly reflects the current trends and innovations in the packaging market.

Successful solutions made of cartonboard are the future in most areas. This is because cartonboard is one of the most sustainable materials; it is also one of the best when it comes to communicating brand values, whether for luxury brands or everyday products.

This year some important changes have been made to further acknowledge and promote the excellence of the carton industry. Above all, we have reclassified the categories to mirror the size of the market sectors, to recognise the structural creativity and aesthetic qualities of the packaging and to emphasise the sustainable nature of our products.

As always, the jury came from all areas of the supply chain to reflect the requirements of the markets. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the jurors for fulfilling their difficult task! New to the jury this year was Andrea Bottan from Nestlé who together with the jury Chairman, Satkar Gidda from SiebertHead – the international brand and packaging design consultancy – Lotte Krekels from Carrefour and designer Susanne Lippitsch jointly selected the winners and runners-up.

We are convinced that cartonboard and cartons will become the most widely used packaging medium in the next decade. Design, structure and functionality of the submitted solutions showed what is possible with cartonboard. Europe’s ultimate award for carton packaging offers enormous advantages to participating companies, not only in terms of positive publicity, but also in terms of the motivation it generates among employees.

The Award enjoys high attention throughout Europe. In addition, there is significant marketing support – national and international press coverage, social media, e-marketing, videos, photos, industry PR, website, brochures and, of course, the certificates and trophies for winners and finalists! You can find everything on www.procarton.com as well as on the social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Linkedin: Please share, like and distribute!

Horst Bittermann, President Pro Carton
Jean-François Roche, President ECMA

MESSAGE FROM PRO CARTON’S GENERAL MANAGER

This is the first time that we have included both the winners and finalists of the Pro Carton Young Designers Award and the European Carton Excellence Award in one publication. The reason for doing so is simple. Having seen the quality of thinking, creativity and sample making in the student community we believe they deserve to be on the same stage as the professional winners. Indeed, the award presentation to all the winners took place at the ECMA Congress in Latvia this year so why not show them all off together here?!

Indeed, at Pro Carton we are looking to communicate more widely with young people and are launching a schools education programme entitled TICIT (pronounced tick-it) which explains the virtuous circle of Trees into Cartons, Cartons into Trees. We will be looking for converters, board mills, suppliers and other partners in the supply chain to help us with the teaching, you will be able to read more on the Pro Carton website.

Indeed, I would again ask for your help in spreading the carton message. Cartonboard is renewable, recyclable and biodegradable….it’s truly sustainable….and not many materials can make that claim. But are we using our combined resources well enough to spread that message? Clearly not. Still a large number of consumers believe that paper based packaging causes deforestation, but as many of you will know European forests are expanding by the equivalent of 1,500 full size football pitches every day!

According to Eurostat 82.6% of paper based packaging is already sent for recycling and even if not recycled cartonboard can biodegrade in around three months and will not leave a long term scar on our environment.

So, if there’s one thing that you do after looking through this brochure please ask your colleagues, friends and family to check out, like and share our social media pages. You can find us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Can you imagine the power of our voice if we worked together on this?

Thanks for your help.

Tony Hitchin,
General Manager, Pro Carton
September 2018