FDBusiness.com

Market leading aluminium foil tray manufacturer, i2r Packaging Solutions, has been awarded with a second Queen’s Award for Enterprise, this time for innovation. The company, who previously won their first award in 2020 for international trade, is one of only 226 organisations nationally to be recognised with a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2022.

With an established reputation for innovation excellence, i2r achieved their award in recognition of their patent protected i2r Ultra™ smoothwall aluminium foil container, a stronger yet lighter tray used for packaging high quality ‘ready to cook’ convenience products including red meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, BBQ food and desserts. The multi-award winning design uses a new style of embossing to dramatically increase stress resistance, creating a reduction in weight, price point and environmental impact of the product. In its development, the design went through a protracted process using finite element analysis (FEA) predictive software and thereafter independent scientific testing and validation, including compression and tension tests conducted against the relevant ISO standard.

In increasing the sustainability of its products by reducing the amount of material used through design optimisation, i2r is able to give commercial choice by presenting innovative and authentic products at a lower price point against comparable containers, thereby creating added-value for their customers’ brands.

Jon West, i2r’s chief commercial officer, said: “We were delighted to receive our first Queen’s Award, but to be awarded a second is fabulous news and a huge honour. Reducing packaging by design and increasing awareness of recyclability is an essential element of our business ethos, so to have our innovation accomplishments formally recognised in this way is a triumph for the company.”

Now in its 56th year, the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious business awards in the country, with winning businesses able to use the esteemed Queen’s Awards’ Emblem for the next five years. Applications for Queen’s Awards for Enterprise 2023 open on the 1st May 2022. For more information, visit https://www.gov.uk/queens-awards-for-enterprise.