Packaging's agenda has been set in the last year by M&A, the green lobby and more than a dash of controversy. We take a light-hearted look back at the year and hand out the medals, trophies and prizes for the stories that shaped it.

DEAL OF THE YEAR
Winner: Alcan, Amcor and Bemis, too
It was the deal the packaging world had been waiting for and in August it finally happened: Amcor announced that it had made a firm offer of $2bn to buy much of Alcan's packaging business. It was about time - it took two years for mining giant Rio Tinto to complete the sale after it acquired rival miner Alcan, in June 2007, and immediately put its packaging business on the market.

The addition of Alcan's Global Tobacco, Food Europe, Food Asia and Global Pharmaceuticals to Amcor's considerable existing empire will create a business with sales of around $12bn and no fewer than 300 factories worldwide.

And let's not forget Alcan's other sale of the year, when Bemis paid $1.2bn for its American food packaging business. As 2010 begins, Alcan's beauty packaging business is still up for grabs - but with Ernst and Young reported to be touting the business to potential buyers, a deal may not be too far off.

Runner-up: Chesapeake
Another international deal that grabbed the headlines, this time for Chesapeake, which, despite most of its operations being in Europe, was headquartered in the US. Its fall in late 2008 into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection triggered a sale to private equity investors Oaktree and Irving Place and, sensibly, a move back to UK headquarters. At $330m, the business was a steal.

PACK POLITICS OF THE YEAR
Winner: Defra's packaging strategy
When environment minister Hilary Benn launched the government's Packaging Strategy in June, there were some grumblings that the entire exercise had been a waste of time - after all, how could we have a strategy focused on packaging without one on products?

Perhaps predictably, the strategy focused on how to reduce packaging's environmental impact: the document would make it more easy to enforce action against manufacturers who over-package products; banning some materials from landfill to increase recycling rates was mooted; and refillable and reusable packaging would be put on the agenda.

Much of the industry saw the 83-page document as a positive indication that the government had recognised the sector's successes and put its finger on many of the problems standing in the way of packaging becoming even more green than it is currently. How some elements of the strategy will be put into action remains to be seen, but the document was a big step in the right direction.

Runner-up: Welsh bag tax
"The worst kind of greenwash we have ever come across." This was how the Carrier Bag Consortium described the Welsh Assembly Government's (WAG) proposal to levy a 15p tax on every single-use carrier bag, be it paper or plastic, handed out in the country. The WAG plan was revealed in August, just days after Wrap announced that supermarkets had cut plastic bag use by 48% in the last three years.

CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR
Winner: Hank the Singing Bottle
Baulking at more traditional methods of promotion, the European Container Glass Association (Feve) created a campaign centred on a loveable Arnold Schwarzenegger-quoting bottle to encourage the reuse of glass.

Hank the Singing Bottle proved as popular   as his song. ‘I'll Be Back' spoke of the renewable nature of glass as rampant lovers, boozy blokes and wayward children cause him to be broken and reincarnated in various forms. It is in his final guise as a make-up pot in Hollywood that Hank finally meets Arnie, who he claims stole his line.

Feve hoped the campaign would increase the amount of container glass collected and recycled. President Dominique Tombeur said: "We hope Hank will help raise greater awareness about the importance of glass recycling".

We're sure the letters he is supposed to have sent to the Governor of California, French first lady Carla Bruni and celebrity blogger Perez Hilton will only help the campaign grow. Now all we need is an album.

Runner-up: Plastics 2020
PlasticsEurope, the British Plastics Federation (BPF) and the Packaging and Films Association (PAFA) started a wide-ranging debate on plastics and waste management issues with the launch of its Plastics 2020 challenge this summer. The scheme aims to engage MPs, ministers and key opinion formers, as well as the general public, in an open debate on the environmental issues surrounding the plastics. A worthy runner-up.