Eastman Chemical Co.
received the Sustainable Consumer Product Award for the KOR ONE refillable
bottle at the International
Plastics Design Competition, co-sponsored by Design News. Results were
announced last night at the National Plastics Exposition in Chicago.
The KOR ONE has a one-handed
lid hatch system that permits easy opening and closing, a hinged cap that stays
open during drinking and is leak-proof. One of the goals of the new design is
to reduce plastic bottle waste going into landfills.
The bottle is made from
Eastman's Tritan copolyester, which was launched in 2007. Tritan is also
winning environmental kudos because it is free of bisphenol-A, one of the
chemicals contained in polycarbonate. Another feature of Tritan is its ability
to withstand stress cracking in multiple dishwasher cycles.
Referring to the
environmental issues confronting the bottle water market, Eric Barnes, founder
of KOR and creator of KOR ONE, says, "We call it 'The Perfect Storm.' We don't
have specific data but we know the reusable bottle market is growing rapidly
because of consumer awareness of what's going on in the media."
The KOR ONE design results
in part from an unusual outreach Eastman has made to the industrial design
community launched by Eastman marketer Gaylon White, who established Web-based
and face-to-face educational meetings with industrial designers. "We started
with the idea that industrial designers do not have a lot of familiarity with
specific plastics, and may not have engineering backgrounds," he says.
When Barnes learned of
Eastman Tritan copolyester, he delayed the timing for the KOR ONE introduction so
he could use the BPA-free material. The KOR ONE bottles are molded by Nypro at
a plant in Monterrey, Mexico.
In a more recent
development, Key Baby, LLC, a producer of infant care products, introduced a
new line of baby bottles and sippy cups using Tritan EX401 copolyester in an
injection stretch blow molding process to make baby bottles. As a result of the
new processing approach, no secondary annealing step is required, saving
energy.
Following is the full list
of winners:
Commercial Product
Category Awards
Furniture: BASF for the Embody Chair
Automotive/Transportation: Inergy Automotive for the Twin Sheet Blow Molded
Automotive Fuel System
Lawn &
Garden/Agriculture: Steinwall Inc.
for the Seed Tube
Industrial/Military: FPM Tooling and Automation for the WaterBrick
Container
Medical: Hospira Inc.for the iSecure Syringe
Recreation & Leisure: Durham Boat Co. for the Competition Oar
Retail: Bemis Manufacturing Co. for the Target All-Plastic
Shopping Cart
Packaging & Materials
Handling: Sosa Tech Advisors for
the High-Impact Plastic Pallet
Overall Awards
Single Part Award: Indesca, C.A. for the Rotomolded School
Desk
Judges' Award: Bulk Molding Compounds, Inc. (BMCI) for the
Thermoset Food Service Platter
Sustainable
Part/Component Award: FPM Tooling
and Automation for the WaterBrick Container
Sustainable Consumer
Product Award: Eastman Chemical Co.
for the KOR ONE Bottle
Marquis Awards
People's Choice Award: Excelec & CIA LTDA for the Prepaid Energy
Meter
11th Annual IDSA/Plastics
News Design Award: Hospira Inc. for
the: iSecure Syringe
Innovations in Plastics
Award: Inergy Automotive for
the Twin Sheet Blow Molded Automotive Fuel System
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