Metsä Board, the leading European producer of premium fresh fiber paperboards, has announced the winners of its international packaging design competition, the Better with Less – Design Challenge. This year, sustainability and the dual role of packaging played an especially strong role among the participating designs.

First Place

Expandable Eco Street Food Ware

First place (prize of 7,000 euros) went to Expandable Eco Street Food Ware, an ecological solution that addresses the growing demand for street food packaging and an alternative to plastic, designed by Christine Gamboa, a Senior Art Director, and Gaudy Danao III, an Associate Creative Director, both from the Philippines.

The first-place winner is a highly adaptable packaging solution that can provide a simple and trendy alternative to plastic and Styrofoam containers, typically used to serve fast food. The paperboard container is 10 inches in diameter when laid flat and can be folded in eight different ways ranging from a cone to a plate to accommodate many types of food. Besides saving material, the design minimizes the space occupied by the container during storage as well as in disposal and recycling.

Second Place

Bruk

Second place and 2,000 euros went to Bruk, a sustainable beverage carton that can be easily recycled with reduced plastic content, designed by Eric Smith from the United States.

Third Place

Razor

The third prize with 1,000 euros went to Razor, which replaces standard plastic packaging with a minimalist paper box that covers only the razor heads while leaving the handles uncovered. The design was created by Magdalena Schmitz, Sarah Redlich, Mikayla Just and Alejandro Don Flores, all students in product design at the Münster School of Design.

“In the winning designs, sustainability and circular economy aspects were well considered and innovatively implemented, and the competition between the top three was very tight. There were many inspiring solutions reflecting a shift in consumer trends from plastic towards more sustainable packaging materials. In some designs, the packaging had a dual role, becoming a part of the product when using it, which further strengthens the circularity of packaging,” said the competition’s chairman and member of the jury, Ilkka Harju, Packaging Services Director at Metsä Board. 

Metsä Board also offered an additional prize of an internship for one student at its new Excellence Centre in Finland. Reload, which allows the storage and sorting of full and empty batteries in the same package won the judges over in the student category. The package was designed by Hamzeh Za’balawi, Franziska Prior, Marcel Diederich and Oliver Ricker.

In addition, an honorary mention went to Jasper Chou’s Preject FF, a sustainable, glueless container for French fries and ketchup.