An athletic product packaged in a 100% rPET clamshell provides significant savings in virgin material and in energy use.

Among the 36 packages taking home 2009/2010 Ameristar Awards from the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP), many boasted obvious sustainability attributes, although just one took home the 3M Sustainability Award. (See pictures of winners.)

Among these winners, a clamshell for XO Athletic, billed as “environmentally friendly,” was honored in the “Other Retail” category. The package was a project of green industry newcomer NextLife Packaging Group (NGP), the packaging-focused business unit of NextLife, which supports, represents, and certifies a sustainable packaging supply chain.

NPG certified partner First Choice Packaging and paperboard converter CardPak contributed to development of the winning clamshell package. The package was designed by LucDesigns and employs NextLife 100% post-consumer recycled PET from NPG network partner, Integrated Packaging Films.

The new package replaces a previous design that employed polyvinyl chloride and, via recycling, saves approximately 120,000 lb of virgin plastic per year. Additionally, the package incorporates First Choice Packaging's patented Virtuweld™ design, which allows the front and back parts to be snapped together, ensuring security without requiring RF or heat sealing. Thanks to the elimination of heat-sealing processes, says NPG, Virtuweld allows XO Athletic to package their products in-house with minimal equipment, saving an estimated 18,000 KWH of energy per year.

The winning XO Athletic package features a smoother surface that conforms more to the product and hangs better on displays, thanks to an innovative concave front and convex back, NPG relates. The design allows a space-saving nesting of the package which, with CardPak’s printing, is said to result in an attention-commanding shelf presence.