Epson has taken a WorldStar Global Packaging Awards 2024 in the Electronics Category with a high-performance cushioning material, the second WorldStar Award for the company following the first in 2007 for ink packaging for large-format inkjet printers.

The WorldStar Awards are organised by the World Packaging Organisation (WPO), an international federation of packaging institutes, associations, federations and other interested parties. The award was presented in Epson’s packaging technology excellence and environmental initiatives.

The WorldStar Awards-winning cushioning material is made from used copier paper collected in an internal wastepaper collection system. Epson’s proprietary Dry Fibre Technology is used to reduce the paper to fibres with little water and to mould the fibres into cushioning materials with the optimal configuration to absorb shocks.

Performance-wise, these cushions have shock-absorbing properties that are equivalent or superior to those of high-performance petroleum-derived cushioning materials and, since there is no need to change the cushioning distance and the size of the retail boxes, they use resources effectively and are used as cushions in printer packages.

Additionally, since the packaging is entirely paper-based, it can be disassembled to reduce volume for disposal and recycling.

The packaging material has also won the President of Japan Productivity Centre for Socio-Economic Development Award and won an award in the Transportation Package category in the AsiaStar 2023 Awards organised by the Asian Packaging Federation.