PSI Sustainability Awards 2021 winners announced

The winners of the sixth PSI Sustainability Awards were awards at a digital awards ceremony on January 12.

This year the awards received around 100 entries and 85 nominations in nine categories.

The awards were originally intended as a prelude to the trade show, which is now planned to take place between May 18 and 20.  The awards in fact turned out to be the perfect opportunity to bring the worldwide industry together digitally instead. Guest speakers from the USA and Netherlands congratulated the winners personally, while an international audience sat at home in their festive evening dress and participated digitally. A ceremonious, if unusual, prelude to a new financial year for the promotional product industry.

Here are the award winners:

Category 1: Economic Excellence
Winner: Karl Knauer KG

The Economic Excellence award is for certified measures that guarantee quality assurance. The winner in this section was Karl Knauer KG which has consistently developed its extensive certification further and documented the continuous sustainable development of the company with a highly transparent detailed annual report.

Category 2: Environmental Excellence
Winner: Schneider Schreibgeräte

Schneider Schreibgeräte introduced certified measures for protecting environmental management in 2020 which go well beyond the minimum legal requirements and received an award in the Environmental Excellence category for this commitment. With its comprehensive and high-quality certification, the company has underlined its ecological achievement and is well placed for the future. The company also scored thanks to one of its environmental initiatives.

Category 3: Social Excellence 2020
Winner: Halfar System

Despite the particularly difficult social challenges presented by 2020, Halfar was able to enhance its social excellence profile in the areas of personnel development, family friendliness, inclusion and integration. Thus, the company’s commitment met all the criteria for the Social Excellence award which rewards the provision of certified measures for securing social working conditions.

Category 4: Environmental Initiative 2020
Winner: Halfar System

Halfar System also received an award in the Environment Initiative category for the environmental concept behind its new HAL logistic centre. Not only are the warehouse and site well-organised and energy-efficient thanks to building insulation and an eco-gas power plant, a 1500sq m area has also been set aside as living space for plants, birds and insects. These and other measures have meant major CO₂ savings, while the company’s comprehensive approach to sustainability is unique. As such, Halfar System successfully managed to fulfil the criteria for the Environmental Initiative award which is all about taking personal responsibility for economic and ecological measures, initiatives as well as developing one’s own environmental standards.

Category 5: Social Initiative 2020
Winner: Karl Knaur KG

In 2011, Karl Knauer, HYDRO Systems and the Biberach Local Authority founded the Fliegerkiste day-care centre to help make work and family more compatible with one another. Since 2020, Karl Knaur has also been actively involved in nature conservation and environmental protection, investing in a 2600sq m meadow for bees in collaboration with Bienenmartin’s honey farm. The project is a smart way of combining the topics of sustainability, landscape ecology and education, as well as involving employees and the local authority, which is why it won the Social Initiative award that is given for creating independent social measures and initiatives.

Category 6: Sustainable Product

The Sustainable Product category with its different subcategories for textiles, writing utensils, paper, product set and product line evaluates certificates and products with regard to their ecological balance. Here are the winners:

Category: Sustainable Product of the Year
Winner: blvck
Product: Pferdeapfel Bio Naturdünger

Even if it cannot be used everywhere, blvck’s natural horse dung fertiliser is a practical ecological merchandising article, which is why the company won a Sustainable Product of the Year award. A great deal of meticulousness and passion has gone into the process behind the fertiliser. Furthermore, in the words of the jury, the product is effective, sustainable and unforgettable.

Category: Sustainable Product – Subcategory Textiles
Winner: Manufacturas Arpe
Product: SKUT Community Mask

The Sustainable Product award winner in the Textile subcategory is the SKUT community mask, made by Manufacturas Arpe. The company also uses 100% renewable energy. The mask itself is free of pollutants and thus also suitable for even (the youngest) children.

Category: Sustainable Product – Subcategory Writing Instruments
Winner: Schneider Schreibgeräte
Product: Reco

The Sustainable Product award in the Writing Utensils subcategory goes to Schneider Schreibgeräte. The company received its award for “Reco”, the first ballpoint pen to bear the Blue Angel environmental label. Thanks to the environmental and resource-saving way in which it is produced, this is one of the most sustainable ballpoint pens on the market.

Category: Sustainable Product – Subcategory Paper
Winner: Hanbückers Werbung GmbH
Product: inpoka (R) Folding Wall Planner

Hanbückers Werbung managed to win the Sustainable Product Paper subcategory award for its inpoka (R) folding wall planner. The special protected calendar design has been optimised for the postage-saving DIALOGPOST mailing method. The jury considered it to be a well-conceived product that persuasively manages to combine practicality and the idea of sustainability.

Category: Sustainable Product – Subcategory Product Line
Winner: SLODKIE UPOMINKI
Product: Fit&Healthy

High-quality products and biodegradable packaging go hand in hand with the winner of the Product Line subcategory of the Sustainable Product award. With Fit&Healthy, SLODKIE UPOMINKI has provided an innovative packaging design in combination with a sweet and, above all, sustainable message.

Category: Sustainable Product – Subcategory Product Set
Winner: PS Concepts
Product: WE CARE Mini super slim umbrella

 

PS Concepts wins the Product Set award in the Sustainable Product section with its WE CARE mini super slim umbrella and integrated carrier bag. Both the canopy and carrier bag are made of high-quality polyester pongee won from recycled material. Not just the canopy has been made from recycled material but the other main plastic components such as the tips, runners, slider etc. are also made of recycled material.

Sustainable Products recommended by PSI

Members of the jury were given the opportunity to pick out one of the sustainable products commended by PSI that they would personally recommend. These are the products proposed by members of the jury:

• Manufacturas Arpe with its promotional eco-designed cushion.
• Sprout World with its Sprout pencil.
• Samoa with its Eco car-tyre bag.
• mbw Vertriebsgesellschaft with its MiniFeet RecycelBear.
• Lindocastelli with its Palm Crush notebook.
• Premium Square Europe with its Upprett.
• PS Concepts with its Shopping BAG+.

Category 7: Sustainable Campaign
Winner: cyber-Wear Heidelberg
Campaign: #starkeschiene

The Sustainable Campaign award is awarded to a marketing campaign in which an ecological promotional product plays a role in several closely related communication and advertising measures. This is precisely why cyber-Wear Heidelberg, won this award with its #starkeschiene campaign. German railways would like to run on a climate-friendly basis in future. Appropriately, the company collaborated with cyber-Wear Heidelberg to produce promotional items that focus both on sustainability and made in Germany. The product range includes a retractable pen made of recycled RPET material, a drinking bottle, and a speaker (all produced using green electricity and 100% recyclable), a bag for fruit and veg, a reusable cup, good chocolate, a beeswax cloth, a certified pencil and a writing pad made of grass paper. All these articles can be used in everyday life and are sustainable alternatives to their plastic predecessors. Moreover, they also look really attractive and offer plenty of advertising space.

Category 8: Innovator of the Year 2020
Winner: FARE – Guenther Fassbender
Project: Switch to waterSAVE for a promotional umbrella

The new Innovator of the Year award, sponsored by cyber-Wear, is for a sustainable product, complete with its story, and submitted by a sustainable company. The award winner is FARE – Guenther Fassbender. FARE has introduced a new and revolutionary dyeing process to help protect the climate and environment. Each fresh model of the style series is equipped with the new waterSAVE canopy. The novel dyeing process reduces the amount of natural raw materials and energy used, as well as ensuring a big reduction in the environmental impact of harmful substances. FARE not only impressed with its product but also with other CSR topics and its transparent development and production process.

Special Jury Prize

This year, the jury has awarded a special prize for the first time in the six-year history of the PSI Sustainability Awards. This special prize was awarded for the production of some excellent application forms and the company behind the initiative, SurvivAll. Even if it is not about promotional products in the classical sense, the jury felt that SurvivALL’s environmental initiative, the SurvivALL Project, was worthy of distinction. With its initiative, SurvivALL is campaigning on behalf of deep cleaning the oceans and thus helping contribute towards generating sustainable energy and fuel made from waste. The jury felt that this was an influential project, the significance of which goes well beyond the promotional product industry.

Category 9: Sustainable Company of the Year
Overall Winner: Halfar System

For the Sustainable Company of the Year award, the jury’s assessments and points accumulated from the different categories 1 to 8 are all totted up and the winner is the nominee with the most points. Halfar System is Sustainable Company of the Year for 2021 and with that, the overall winner of the sixth PSI Sustainability Awards. The company persuaded the jury with its certification and auditing in all three areas of sustainability: economic, environmental, and social sustainability. The all-encompassing environmental concept for the new Halfar logistics centre stood out as the most exciting aspect.