The World Star Awards 2018 have awarded five Mondi entries for their innovative character. The prestigious awards, organised annually by the World Packaging Organisation, take candidates from 33 national awards and five continents into consideration. “We are honoured by this distinction and see it as a testament to how we enable our customers to be trend leaders and stand out in their markets,” says Armand Schoonbrood, COO at Mondi Corrugated Packaging. “Winning five awards in one night was incredible and is the result of close collaboration and listening to our great customers!” Mondi’s award-winning solutions highlight clear trends in global markets. Be it in end-user goods packaging, beverages, point of sale, heavy duty or industrial packaging they fulfil customers’ wish for packaging solutions that provide easier end-user handling, unique marketing opportunities, and high material efficiency and sustainability. The ‘Baca Stand’ received a World Star Award in the Point of sale category, winning over the panel of judges with its well-thought-out, tape-free structure, which positions the product in the centre of the supermarket aisle. The display concept consists of a durable cardboard structure with a smart interlocking system that connects two corrugated trays with the main pillar. The filling process is simple and fast, and end-consumers can access the product easily. More importantly, the new solution scores in terms of efficiency: it uses 46% less material and requires 20% less handling time per pallet compared to conventional stack A-boxes, which need to be tape-wrapped by hand. Two Mondi entries in the Transit category received World Star Awards. Mondi and Scandinavian partner aPak AB jointly entered the ‘Simple Sphere’ packaging solution, which replaces the wooden crates that were conventionally used to transport car bonnets from Sweden to China. This heavy-duty cardboard packaging solution stands out for its innovative twist-lock construction, which facilitates an extremely fast set up in less than 30 seconds without screws, glue or tape. In addition, the new material is lighter, withstands humidity and condensation, and features a unique anti-corrosion solution using the patented VCI technology. As a result, the ‘Simple Sphere’ not only offers shorter assembly and dismantling times, it is also an environmentally friendly alternative to wood crates. The second award in this category was granted for Mondi’s heavy duty stacking corners in industrial packaging applications for axial flow fans, which was commissioned by a customer to boost material efficiency and handling. The custom-made stacking corners are made from a single piece of cardboard, which results in a 30% reduction in material usage. Additionally, the new stacking corners are assembled twice as fast as the previous solution, which guarantees time savings of 17 hours per 1,000 packaged fans.