IPOPHL awards Philippine-made sustainable packaging innovations

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) named last Tuesday seven local intellectual property technologies as winning innovations at its Socially Relevant Technology (SRT) Contest 2021, which aims to promote sustainable packaging solutions and other clean technologies.

Below are the winners and their corresponding prizes:

Entry Category (for high-school participants)

1st prize (with P30,000.00 cash prize) – GT FABRIC: A Natural Fabric-Based Packaging Material of Golden Torch (GT) Leaf Torch by Near Blessing F. Olpindo, Mark Michole S. Hernandez and Homer F. Perez.

2nd prize (P15,000) – Urea-based Water-soluble Packaging Infused with Vitamin B1 for Marine Life by Leya Althea Senen, Beatrice Anne Bustria, Trisha Marisz Tabug, Jaemie Francine Talingdan and Jeanele Valencia.

Intermediate category (college)

1st prize (P50,000) – Waste of the Pili Tree (Canarium Ovatum) Resin as Aircraft Integral Fuel Tank Sealant by Mark Kennedy E. Bantugon

2nd prize (P25,000) – PamBALAT: A Biomaterial Film Alternative to Single Use E-commerce Mailer Packaging Bags by Patricia Louise Pobre

Advanced category (professional)

1st prize (P75,000) – Method for Producing Bacterial Cellulose Bio-Plastic Film Derived from Fruit Wastes by Carinna T. Saldaña; Mary Joy P. Paico; Ursela G. Bigols

2nd prize (P50,000) – Pulp-Based Biodegradable Packaging from Combined Agricultural Wastes (Rice Straws, Corn Husks) by Maria Wilvenna Anora; Jhonnalyn Anora.

3rd prize (P25,000) – Compostable and Sustainable Thin-Wall Rigid Packaging for Agricultural Products by Joshua Tan, Jonathan Fung Co and Lester Lao.

The winners will also be provided with information search training and exposure through the IP Depot –– IPOPHL’s online marketplace for IP investors and buyers –– once filed for protection and the Sustainability Solutions Expo of the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions this November.

The types of sustainable packaging innovations screened include the development of more sustainable packaging materials and designs; those enabling new recycling processes and infrastructure; and those which contribute to influencing consumer behavior to reduce the environmental impacts of their consumption.

Judges tapped for the contest were Nikki Sevilla, co-founder and Managing Director of EcoNest Philippines; Czarina Constantino-Panopio, National Lead of the No Plastics in Nature Initiative of the World Wide Fund for Nature in the Philippines; and June Alvarez, Executive Director of the Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, Inc.

The contest is part of IPOPHL’s broader effort to promote the use of patent information for the development and utilization of SRT in the Philippines.

By focusing on sustainable packaging innovations this year, IPOPHL’s SRT Contest hopes to spark more solutions to the waste problem that is worsening due to the pandemic and the subsequent rise of deliveries and takeouts.

“Even before COVID-19, single-use packaging is a global issue that has largely been unaddressed. As we are forecast to live with the pandemic for several months more and even years, online shopping and food deliveries will also be part of our new normal and will surely worsen our environmental crisis,” IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba said.

“To save the future world, companies and we, as consumers, must adopt more sustainable practices,” Barba added. (Janina Lim, IPOPHL Media Relations Officer)