Infini milk bottle beats Dyson Airblade and electric bus to eco gong

Nampak Plastics’ Infini bottle pipped high-profile rivals including an electronic bus to be named the green product of the year at last week’s British Engineering Excellence Awards (BEEAs).

The design fought off five shortlisted competitors including the Dyson Airblade tap as well as the electronic bus from Optare.

The awards promote the power of UK engineering design innovation to the wider world and the Infini bottle was recognised for its green credentials and reduced carbon footprint.

More than 300m Infini bottles have been sold and stocked in retailers including Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons.

This year Nampak has achieved two global firsts with Infini: the company recently trialled, tested and supplied the first four-pint milk bottle containing up to 30% rHDPE.

This breakthrough came a few weeks after Nampak created a four-pint Infini bottle weighing in at 32g, representing a 20% material saving on the standard four-pint version in most supermarkets.

Managing director Eric Collins said: “The team has worked extremely hard, undertaking a four-year journey to reduce the weight and carbon footprint of the standard milk bottle.”

Judges at the BEEAs said: “The reduction in material is very impressive and will have a significant environmental impact. Nampak has a route-map to more reductions in a very high volume product.”