PIDA France Focused on Secondary Uses for Packaging

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The life cycle of packaging is usually short but nevertheless intense. After it fulfills its purpose—to attract buyers and protect the product—its job is done. An unfortunate fate, in the opinion of Japanese packaging designer Akiko Aria. As Aria expresses it, "a life of wrapping arouses our sympathy. However beautiful it is, its destiny is to be thrown away." This year, PIDA (Packaging Impact Design Award), France, challenged its participants to find a secondary use for packaging once the original products had been removed.

The scope of this year’s PIDA event was widened by inviting the European Institute for Packaging Technology (Esepac) to participate. Esepac joined the other university that had participated previously, IUT in Reims, France. Esepac was the winning institution at an event and award ceremony in Reims in May. Every year, PIDA, a packaging competition sponsored by Swedish paper manufacturer Korsnäs, has a different theme and the brief this year was to give old packaging a new lease on life – in other words, to indentify an alternative purpose beyond its original role.

The first place winner this year, "Hands Up (see photo on the right)," was a package in the shape of a hand for a football club t-shirt. The concept was based around the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The t-shirt was designed for the supporters of the French team. Wearing the t-shirt and waving the "hand" creates the perfect atmosphere and demonstrates team spirit. "Brilliantly simple," according to the jury. "Being one and the same, the packaging and intended message have an immediate effect."

The winners, Esepac's Alexandre Fleuret and Cécile Braconnier, received a trip to Stockholm, Sweden, and a visit to the Korsnäs mill in Frövi as a prize.

"The consideration of the stakes implied by sustainability, by industry and consumers alike, should go beyond guilt and seek to develop global ambitions, mixing social, economic and environmental consequences. These directions demand expertise, creating news jobs, most notably in the area of packaging," Azizollah added.

PIDA was inaugurated in Sweden in conjunction with the Swedish Year of Design in 2005. PIDA was launched in Germany in 2006 and in France in 2007. The Swedish and German events will be held in the autumn.