Big news for Qwarzo®: we’ve just snagged another prestigious award! At the Tocco Future Materials Award 2024, held on September 12th in Paris, our innovative approach to sustainable materials put us in the spotlight, winning us the Future Material Visionary category. This recognition highlights our dedication to developing game-changing solutions that push the industry towards circular product models. The award ceremony was part of the Future Matters 2024 event, a key gathering of global leaders in bio-design and new materials.
Tocco started out as a B2B marketplace for regenerative and low-carbon materials. Its mission? To speed up the shift to a sustainable economy by building the biggest hub for innovative, regenerative, renewable, and recycled materials that support eco-design. It’s a platform that’s changing the game for developers, designers, brands, and suppliers, helping them bring products to life in a more sustainable way.
This vision also led to the creation of the Tocco Future Matter Award, which shines a spotlight on the best international initiatives in sustainable materials. In 2024, the award received over 1,500 applications from more than 30 countries. Submissions were evaluated across five main categories: Future Material Visionary, Waste to Wealth, Bio-Based Materials, Plastic-Free Pioneer, and Future Matters 2024, focusing on key aspects like material composition, scalability, fossil fuel independence, and innovation level.
A panel of industry experts and climate innovation pioneers, backed by over 2,500 Tocco community members, worked to identify the most significant and promising innovations. Among them was Qwarzo® technology: we are proud that our patented mineral-based coating, offering an alternative to traditional plastic coatings, received recognition from this community of innovators destined to lead the circular transition.
Emiliano Caradonna, CEO of Qwarzo, accepted the award in Paris. “It was thrilling to accept this award in Paris and to meet, alongside Tocco’s amazing organization, other companies that share our vision for a better, plastic-free future. Together, we can truly be the drivers of change. This recognition represents yet another confirmation for the entire Qwarzo team that we have the power to make a difference. We are shaping innovative, sustainable technology that has the potential to transform the future of materials, and every day we push the boundaries of our future applications thanks to the ecosystem we’ve created. We firmly believe that circular design is the key to a more responsible world, and Qwarzo® is the answer to the needs of eco-design and sustainable packaging solutions.”
Qwarzo® technology is making great strides in the food sector, addressing many performance and recyclability challenges. It’s particularly suited for single-use items such as straws, ice cream spoons, coffee stirrers, plates, and cups. In the packaging space, it extends to containers, boxes, and much more. Qwarzo’s applications are incredibly diverse, and our team’s relentless pursuit of innovation reflects our commitment to finding solutions and tackling new challenges head-on.
The Tocco Future Material Award adds to a series of prestigious recognitions that Qwarzo has achieved in the past year. Among these milestones, Qwarzo® was a finalist at the Avant-Garde Awards 2024 in the Innovative Materials category, an initiative promoted by Packaging Première and PCD Milan. Additionally, it received the Innovation Award at Sigep 2024 for its collaboration with Gondola Packaging in launching Qup, the first paper ice cream cup with Qwarzo® coating. Zero Waste Italy and the Zero Waste Research Center also gave a special mention for the paper cutlery coated with Qwarzo® technology, further highlighting our dedication to creating a future free from plastic waste.
