On May 14, 2008, Electrolux was awarded the prestigious Inspiration Prize by The Swedish Recycling Industry Association for the new Ultrasilencer Green vacuum cleaner.
The Inspiration Prize has been awarded for the past three years to a company doing groundbreaking work with recycled materials. Previous winners include Patagonia (2007) and Ikea (2006).
“We are good at sorting our waste,” said Annika Helker Lundström, President of the association. “But the challenge is to turn our waste into new raw materials — to substitute original materials with recycled ones. And that is what Electrolux has achieved with its green vacuum cleaner. Electrolux has raised the status of recycled plastics. And I hope this inspires other companies. This is why we call it the Inspiration Prize.”
Watch a film about Ultrasilencer Green
The Swedish Recycling Industries’ Association is an organization of Swedish companies working within the recycling field. The association, established in 1998, took the opportunity of the award ceremony to celebrate its first ten years. The Swedish Recycling Industries’ Association member companies represent the main part of the recycling market in Sweden.
“It is a great honor to receive this award and share laureate status with Patagonia and Ikea,” says Martina Nillenstedt, Product Marketing Manager Electrolux Floor Care and Small Appliances Europe. “The Ultrasilencer Green has attracted a lot of interest.”
The Inspiration Prize is not a competition and is based on an informal yet educated survey by the association of what different companies are doing in the recycling field. This year’s prize was a piece of art by Jonas Torstensson made of (what else?) recycled materials.
Klaus Warmedinger, President of Floor Care and Small Appliances Europe, accepted the Inspiration Prize on behalf of Electrolux from Maud Olofsson, Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister for Enterprise and Energy. Olofsson had previously held an impassioned speech about the environment.
Warmedinger first thanked the association for the prize, and explained how Electrolux will continue working with environmental issues.
“This is the first environmentally-profiled vacuum cleaner on the market,” said Warmedinger. “It consumes one-third less energy, it is quiet, 55 percent of it is made of recycled plastics, and more than 90 percent of it can be recycled when its days are over. If all vacuum cleaners made in Europe in a year were made like this, we could save the amount of water that runs over Niagara Falls in 19 minutes.”
“This whole project would not have been possible without a steady supply of recycled materials,” said Warmedinger, before handing over an Ultrasilencer Green vacuum cleaner to Helker Lundström, and the association, as an anniversary gift.
For further information about the award and Electrolux please contact Electrolux Press Hotline +46 8 657 65 07 or press@electrolux.com
