TORONTO, June 18, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On June 15, 2015 the Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) announced the winners of the 2015 Plastics Industry Leadership Awards. CPIA's awards recognize outstanding individuals and businesses for their commitment and dedication to the growth and sustainability of the Canadian plastics industry.
"We are delighted to be able to celebrate the contributions of the winners in all of the award categories" said Carol Hochu, President and CEO of CPIA.
For almost 50 years the Leader of the Year Award has been given to individuals that are recognized as having made important contributions to the Canadian plastics industry and continually use their knowledge and influence to improve the competitive, innovative and environmental performance of the industry.
This year the Leader of the Year Award recipient is Jim Ellies. A 35 year veteran of Canada's plastics industry, Ellies is the President and COO of Gracious Living Innovations, the largest foam extruder in Canada supplying a number of Original Equipment Manufacturers. GLI has developed new product categories for some industries resulting in markets which they dominate and have become world leaders in.
The Plastics Innovator Award is for those companies or individuals that have contributed to the expansion of the Canadian plastics industry, through advancement of the Canadian plastics industry in the areas of materials, products, process/technology, or marketing/communications.
This year there are three winner in the Plastics Innovator Award category, the first one being Rob Miller, President, Wittmann Canada.
Miller designed a new weight loading device for plastic powders used in the Rotational Moulding Industry. The ROTOLOAD product line will greatly improve the productivity, safety, effectiveness and hard consistency of the process.
The next winner in the Innovator category is Terry Rochfort, Director Technical Services, Bericap North America. Rochfort has been a fixture in the plastics industry for over 40 years with a heavy focus on delivering innovative plastic caps and closures to market.
The final winner in the Innovator category is Protoplast Inc. Protoplast is a leading plastic injection molding company located in Cobourg, Ontario. Protoplast has developed technology to produce automotive flexible bellows or ducts through combining the accuracy of injection molding with the flexible variability of blow molding.
The Plastics Sustainability Award recognizes Individuals or organizations who have contributed to the sustainability of the Canadian plastics industry in an environmental, social or economic manner, including post-use plastics recovery. Nominee's contributions could be for efforts related to sustainability in recycling or for products or packaging that has been produced in Canada and contains at least 20% post-use plastics collected for recycling.
This year's Sustainability award winner is Cascades for ULTRATILL™ – Lighter Trays with a Lighter Environmental Footprint. When compared to trays made from 100% virgin HIPS, Cascades Ultratill™ mushroom trays are manufactured with 80% postconsumer recycled material and weigh 8% less.
The next award category is the CanPlast Award which honours individuals who have contributed their time, energy and expertise to improving the competitive and environmental performance of Canada's plastics industry.
The first recipient is Steven Wood, President & CEO, Vintex Inc. Wood's current board and trade association involvement includes several years on CPIA's Vinyl Council of Canada and the Canadian Textile Industry Association.
The next CanPlast award winner is Veso Sobot, Director, Corporate Affairs, IPEX Management Inc. Sobot is a thought leader on important business topics with a proven track record successfully tackling industry issues.
Sobot has devoted countless time and much effort over the past decades to vigorously protecting and promoting the vinyl and PVC industries including participation in and chairing a variety of associations such as: Canadian Plastics Industry Association board of directors, Chairing CPIA's Vinyl Council of Canada, Professional Engineers of Ontario, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and many more.
The last category of awards is the Lifetime Achievement Award honouring individuals who have made outstanding achievements and contributed enduring legacies to Canada's plastics industry.
This year's first honouree is Judith Nancekivell, former publisher of Canadian Plastics Magazine. During her 34 years with Canadian Plastics, Nancekivell was responsible for launching Plastiques et moules for Quebec, as well as maintaining Canadian Plastics as a communications vehicle for Canada's plastics industry.
The final Lifetime Achievement Award winner is Vic De Zen, Chairman of Vision Extrusions Group.
De Zen founded Royal Plastics in 1970 which later became Royal Group Technologies Limited and grew that company to over two billion dollars in sales before the company was sold in 2005.
De Zen re-entered the PVC extrusion business in 2009 as Vision Extrusions Group Limited. Under his leadership the company has grown in 5 years to include multiple facilities currently housed in over 1 million square feet:
CPIA would like to congratulate all the award winners and commend them for their contributions to the plastics industry.
The awards were presented at CPIA's Plastics Industry Leadership Awards Celebration on June 15, 2015 at the Sheraton Airport Hotel & Conference Centre in Toronto, Ontario.
More award winner details are available at: http://www.plastics.ca/AboutCPIA/Awards/winners/index.php
The Canadian Plastics Industry Association is the national voice of Canada's plastics industry, representing the interests of processors, material suppliers, equipment manufacturers and brand owners across the country.