One P&G design reduced by 80 percent the amount of packaging materials used. Another is using less of nearly everything while also increasing line speed and efficiency.

Sustainably innovative, these and two other packaging designs on May 28 were recognized for outstanding design and business results at the 21st DuPont Awards for Sustainable Packaging Innovation.

In a field with more than 120 global entries, P&G on May 28 won three of the 10 awards and an honorable mention. P&G was the only company to win multiple awards.

P&G's package design work is just part of the Company's ongoing commitment to sustainability, aimed at improving the world for everyone for generations to come through a series of global sustainability goals aimed at improving the footprint of P&G's products, packaging and facilities.

"Consumers lead our approach to sustainability. We look holistically at our packaging to insure that we deliver a superior experience to our consumers and improve our environmental footprint across the entire product life cycle," said Tony Burns, Global Sustainability, Package Development.

"Around the world, our teams are coming up with some highly innovative and results-focused solutions."

P&G's innovations reduced the amount of materials used and both shipping space and costs, while increasing efficiency -- and delivering an improved consumer experience.

Winning P&G Entries:

Ariel
Teams in Turkey replaced cardboard shipping boxes with seal-tight plastic bags, using 80% less material and delivering a superior product to market.

Previously, 8 bags of Ariel granule detergent were packed into a corrugated box for shipping. It was a lot of cardboard. The brand's sustainability team began to wonder: Could they get rid of all those boxes? Ultimately, they designed a new process that packed Ariel in large, seal-tight Polyethylene bags. The bags are wholly recyclable, require 80% less packaging material than boxes, can be opened without tools, and take up 20% less space during transport and storage. Plus, Ariel packages now look even better on-shelf because the new compressed packing process keeps the Ariel bags wrinkle free in shipment. Three independent judges all said: "Wow."

Prilosec OTC
Prilosec teams challenged industry design standards and cut material usage in half when they redesigned their tablet-holding "blister" sheets to hold twice as many tablets, while also making the tablets easier to access for consumers.

The engineering and design change saved more than 800,000 pounds of packaging material a year and cut by 50% CO2 emissions during production. The innovation was featured on the cover of Healthcare Packaging Magazine in February, in Packaging World in January and on the Charlie Rose TV News program during an interview with former Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott.

Alldays
The R&D team for Alldays femcare liners in Europe saved ink, cardboard, time and space when they created a new "elegant" way to ship their shelf-ready packages to market.

After much trial and testing, the Alldays team designed a two-part, easy-separation "box" that protects its packages in shipping, uses far less material, and increases both production and restocking time. Previously, the team packed four Alldays packages in a fully printed cardboard box, designed with a bottom-edge perforation so that store employees could rip off the top and keep the bottom tray for handling and in-store display. The new design includes an upgraded "tray" and a streamlined detached "hood" that protects the product, but removes quickly and requires no printing because one end is open, showing the product inside. Clever and thoroughly tested, the new design is saving 1,500 tons of paper, 375 truck trips and $1.8 million a year. It's also cutting ink usage by 80% and increasing production line speed by 33%, while shaving 50% of restocking time for customers.

Honorable Mention

NA Laundry -- Compaction

When P&G teams concentrated liquid laundry formulas by 2x, the reformulation led to a holistic product redesign, with high-impact benefits across the entire product lifecycle.

In addition to delivering a smaller, more easily managed package for consumers, laundry compaction every year saves 15,000 metric tons of packaging materials; requires 40,000 fewer truck loads in shipping; saves 500 million liters of water and reduces CO2 emissions by 100,000 metric tons.