Global Label Awards | 107RECOGNIZE INNOVATIONbusiness. And by early 2021, Billiet was said to have presented a “AS OPPOSED TO roadmap for all global production sites of MCC Label to reduce its AN END-OF-LIFE carbon footprint, guiding the Belgian facility to achieve a carbon neutral production.PACKAGE THAT CAN ‘Sustainability is something that comes in every corner of what END UP IN A LANDFILL we do, and at MCC, we actually wanted to make sure that we had OR THE OCEAN, IT’S different opportunities in [sustainability],’ Billiet says. ‘First of all, we wanted to focus on our people, making sure they have sustainable ACTUALLY ENDING jobs and can work for a longer time. Next, is what we do in our UP IN YOUR GARDEN operations. As an industry leader, we want to give the example of AND YOU’RE GROWING how to do this and give all kinds of projects, which can be reducing our carbon emission, making sure we have projects in waste, and all TOMATOES OR CORN, of this needs to lead into having products for our customers that SO IT’S A PRETTY FUN are sustainable.’INNOVATION”Awarded the Innovation Award for companies over 300 employees was Actega for its Signite low waste decoration technology. ‘We were a bit shocked really, to be honest,’ says Grant Schutte, vice president of Actega North America Technologies. ‘We were competing with another Actega startup for the award … so [we] kind of feel a bit bad about the fact that our colleagues, we have to walk past them and be like “I’m sorry, but at the same time, we’re not so sorry.”’Actega acquired the Signite technology in 2017, it utilizes UV-curable chemistry to create decorations entirely on press, eliminating the need for laminated constructions used in traditional pressure-sensitive label production.For the Innovation Award for companies under 300 employees, S-One Labels & Packaging took the win for its ReEarth commercially-compostable fexible flm.The flms have passed the ASTM D6400 commercial compostability standards, and are BPI and USDA Biopreferred certifed. The ReEarth material has achieved 100 percent disintegration, successfully composted in 47 days in real-world testing at a Compost Manufacturers Association facility during an 84-day industrial exposure independent lab test.‘As opposed to an end-of-life package that can end up in a landfll or the ocean, it’s actually ending up in your garden and you’re growing tomatoes or corn, so it’s a pretty fun innovation,’ said Tom Hauenstein, vice president of sales at S-One Labels and Packaging, adding that, while he spoke on behalf of the company, there was a large team behind this innovation and they deserve the honor just as much.The judging panel for the awards was Lori Campbell, chairman of TLMI; Linnea Keen, president of TLMI; Philippe Voet, president of FINAT; Greg Hrinya, editor of Label & Narrow Web; James Quirk, the former content director at Labels & Labeling; and Jean Poncet, editor-in-chief at Etiq+Pack. The chair of the judging panel was Andy Thomas-Emans, strategic director Tarsus Labels & Packaging Group.To watch a video from the Global Label Awards, visit: https://bit.ly/3VJXNd0