Plastic Ingenuity is proud to announce that its PET Medical Device Reel for a healthcare contract manufacturer has earned a 2026 AmeriStar Award in the Sustainable Packaging category. Criteria for this category required packaging that reduces environmental impact, evaluates efficient energy usage or recycling efforts, and shows an effective use of reusable, recyclable, and eco-friendly packaging materials.
Presented by the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP), the annual AmeriStar competition recognizes outstanding packaging designs across a range of categories, including solutions that demonstrate innovation, performance and environmental impact.
For Plastic Ingenuity, the recognition highlights how thoughtful engineering can transform a manufacturing process to deliver measurable environmental benefits with greater operational efficiency.
Redesigning a Longstanding Manufacturing Process
The project began when a leading healthcare contract manufacturer approached Plastic Ingenuity with a challenge: find a more sustainable way to produce a large PVC reel used during the manufacturing of a small medical device.
The existing design consisted of two PVC halves that were welded together. While effective, the process required specialized welding equipment, additional floor space and a material that presented opportunities for environmental improvement. Plastic Ingenuity saw an opportunity to rethink both the material and the design itself.
The team proposed transitioning the nearly 30-inch reel from PVC to lightweight, thermoformed PET, which eliminated the welding process altogether. Because the reel needed to maintain the structural integrity required to support the medical devices throughout manufacturing and integrate seamlessly into the customer’s existing operations, this challenge involved more than replacing one material with another.
Engineering a Snap-Together Solution
Given the size and complexity of the reel, Plastic Ingenuity assigned three designers to independently explore potential interlocking concepts. Each developed a different approach focused on strength, functionality and manufacturability. The team then evaluated prototypes and combined the strongest elements into one design. Through multiple iterations and test samples, the engineers refined an interlocking mechanism that allowed two thermoformed PET halves to securely snap together without welding.
The finished halves can be shipped stacked in boxes to the customer, helping optimize space during transportation and storage. Once on-site, the customer snaps the two halves together and loads the reel directly onto its production line, where the medical devices are manufactured and wound around it for downstream processing and packaging.
The result is a durable, high-performing reel that simplifies assembly and eliminates the need for specialized welding stations and equipment.
Looking Beyond Material Choice
The environmental benefits of the redesign extend across the manufacturing process. Transitioning the large-scale application from PVC to PET converted approximately 236,250 pounds of material into a fully recyclable format. The change is also estimated to save 10.3 million gallons of water annually. Eliminating the welding step provides additional efficiencies by removing the equipment and energy previously required for assembly. Meanwhile, the ability to stack the unassembled reel halves helps optimize shipping and storage before reaching the customer.
Together, these improvements create a sustainable and operationally efficient solution that addresses material use, manufacturing and logistics while continuing to perform its essential role within healthcare manufacturing.
Recognizing Collaborative Innovation
The AmeriStar Award reflects the collaboration required to successfully replace a proven manufacturing process with a new approach.
From exploring multiple engineering concepts to refining the interlocking mechanism through testing, the project demonstrates Plastic Ingenuity’s approach to solving complex thermoforming challenges: understanding how a product functions throughout its lifecycle and identifying opportunities to improve materials, processes and performance together.
The resulting PET medical device reel provides a more efficient manufacturing solution that supports the customer’s sustainability goals—and demonstrates what is possible when engineering innovation and environmental considerations are addressed from the beginning of the design process. The AmeriStar recognition underscores how thoughtful design can uncover sustainability opportunities that extend beyond material selection alone.