The next induction ceremony of the Plastics Hall of Fame Class of 2025 will be held at the K Show in Düsseldorf, Germany, the organisation has announced.
It will be the first time the gala, which recognises both living and deceased personalities who have made major contributions to influencing and driving the plastics industry, takes place outside of the United States.
In 2022, the head of US-based Plastics Hall of Fame came to K 2022 with a mission to internationalise the organisation. Long-time plastics executive Maureen Steinwall said at the time that the Hall of Fame board wants to ‘gather success stories from everywhere’.
The Plastics Hall of Fame was initiated by the magazine Modern Plastics in cooperation with the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) in 1972. The organisation only started accepting nominations from outside the US in 2004.
The Plastics Hall of Fame currently has 235 members from 10 countries. In 2022, there were only 39 members from outside the US: 21 Germans, five Canadians, four Japanese, three English and two or one each from South Africa, Austria, Italy and Taiwan. At the time, the organisation said it would like to achieve a 50% internationalisation rate.
Holding the induction ceremony at K, the world’s largest plastics and rubber trade fair, is expected to improve the organisation's visibility with international visitors. K 2022 had 70% of visitors from outside Germany with 157 countries represented.
“K in Düsseldorf offers the ideal platform to further promote the internationalisation of the Plastics Hall of Fame and to honour individuals from all over the world who have made a special contribution to the international success of the plastics industry.,” Steinwall said in a press release.
The ceremony will take place on the eve of K 2025 on Oct. 7.
Every 18 months the newly elected members are honoured as part of a ceremony. The board of the Plastics Hall of Fame acts as a screening committee for the nominations, which are then checked and voted upon by the current members.
Nominations for the Plastics Hall of Fame Class of 2025 are now open until late February 2025. Find the nomination form here.