Winners Announced for the BPF Horners Awards 2026

The British Plastics Federation is delighted to announce the winners of the 2026 Horners Awards – recognising outstanding innovation, design, and sustainability within the UK plastics industry. This year’s awards celebrate two very different projects united by a common theme: using plastics expertise and innovation to solve real-world challenges.

Foresight Innovations Ltd has won the BPF Horners Award for Plastics Innovation and Design for Recorelite, its lightweight panel made from recycled plastic, while The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust have received the David Williams Award for their regional metered dose inhaler recycling initiative.

The Award for Plastics Innovation and Design was presented at the BPF Annual Dinner, in front of hundreds of professionals from across the plastics industry and its wider supply chain. The David Williams Award winner was presented by the Lord Mayor at the Horners’ Annual Banquet in Mansion House.

Stephen Hunt, BPF Deputy Director General, said “Both of this year’s winners demonstrate exactly what the Horners Awards are about: innovative thinking that delivers real-world benefits. From creating a lighter, high-performance material using recycled plastic to developing a practical recycling solution that is already reducing emissions within the NHS, these projects show the extraordinary breadth of what can be achieved through collaboration, ingenuity and smart use of materials. Congratulations to everyone involved in both projects. They are fantastic examples of UK innovation in action and thoroughly deserving winners.”

On the Horners award for plastic innovation, Professor S J R Simon, Worshipful Company of Horners said, “The judges were particularly impressed by the innovative design and technology behind Recorelite, as well as its potential across a wide range of applications. Its combination of high recycled content, low weight, strength and full end-of-life recyclability demonstrates an ingenious approach to solving a genuine engineering challenge. The judges felt Foresight Innovations should be justifiably proud of an innovation with significant potential for both the UK and international markets.”

On the David Williams award, Professor S J R Simon, Worshipful Company of Horners said, “The judges were impressed by the practical and collaborative approach taken to address the significant environmental impact of metered dose inhalers. The initiative demonstrates how innovative thinking can turn a complex waste challenge into a workable solution, while using existing logistics to operate at zero cost to the NHS. With more than 20,000 inhaler bodies already recycled and clear potential for wider rollout, the judges felt this was a highly deserving winner of the David Williams Award.”

Horners Award for Plastics Innovation and Design: Winner: Foresight Innovations Ltd – Recorelite

Originally developed for van flooring, Recorelite combines high strength and durability with significantly reduced weight. Its innovative chevron-shaped, truss-like core is based on a Miura-Ori folding pattern, providing multi-directional strength and consistent support under concentrated point loads. Foresight developed a continuous in-line folding process that takes advantage of the forming behaviour of amorphous thermoplastics, allowing a structure that would traditionally require complex manufacturing methods to be produced efficiently at commercial scale.

The panel also uses a proprietary fusion bonding technique to join its skins and core. This provides weld-level strength without introducing additional contaminants, reducing the risk of delamination while ensuring the complete panel remains recyclable at the end of its life. Sustainability is central to the product. Recorelite is manufactured in the UK using domestically sourced recycled ABS and is fully recyclable, including the potential for material to be reused in new Recorelite panels.

David Williams Award: Winner: The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust & Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust – Reducing the Environmental Impact of Metered Dose Inhalers

Metered dose inhalers are widely used across the NHS but contain hydrofluorocarbon propellants with a significant global warming impact. The project brings together pharmacies and health centres across the Black Country to provide a practical route for used inhalers to be collected and recycled. Crucially, the initiative has been designed to operate at zero cost to the NHS, using existing delivery and collection networks to avoid additional vehicle journeys and the associated emissions.

One of the project’s key challenges was securing Environment Agency approval for the decontamination process required to allow used inhalers to be safely recycled into new products. The resulting scheme captures both the plastic inhaler body and aerosol canister. Residual propellant gases are safely treated, while materials can be recovered rather than being incorrectly disposed of.

More than 20,000 inhaler bodies have already been recycled, while metered dose inhaler emissions within RWT PCN have fallen from a 2019/20 baseline of 957 tCO₂e to 471 tCO₂e. The scheme has expanded to Walsall Manor Hospital Pharmacy and there are plans for wider adoption across the West Midlands, with the potential for the model and lessons learnt to support future national rollout.

Celebrating UK Plastics Innovation

The Horners Awards are among the longest-established awards recognising achievement in plastics, celebrating projects that demonstrate the versatility of plastics alongside outstanding innovation, design and responsible use of materials.

The judges were also impressed with the innovative design and the technology behind the COtooCLEAN™ plant of Coveris and Nextek, the important problem it addresses, the high grade of material it produces and the excellent reports it is receiving. Their entry was the only one to be Highly Commended, alongside the Award winners, in what was a very close competition and they should also be justifiably proud of their innovation.

Their achievements demonstrate the breadth of innovation taking place across the UK – from developing high-performance circular materials for demanding engineering applications to creating practical systems that recover valuable materials and reduce emissions within healthcare.

Read more from the BPF here.