Bedzzzy is a great example of a 'product as a service'. Based in the Netherlands, it targets old mattresses which are a major source of waste, producing its own recyclable mattresses – the world’s very first 100% circular mattresses.
Reet Aus is a PhD-qualified fashion designer who founded her own brand that focuses on sustainable fashion. She has studied the issue of waste in the fashion industry.
Remondis is one of the world's largest recycling, service and water companies with over 30 000 employees and 900 business locations. The Lippe plant in Lünen is one of their largest sustainable projects: it has a surface area of 230 ha and is the largest industrial recycling plant in Europe.
Nasekomo is a company based in Bulgaria that uses insects (specifically Black Soldier Flies) to produce sustainable insect protein, oils and fertilisers that can be used for feed and in agricultural industries. Nasekomo’s goal is to use – and increase the usage of – these insects as part of a global solution to the issues caused by the exponential consumption of meat.
The Carlsberg Group, in cooperation with innovation experts EcoXpac, packaging company BillerudKorsnäs and post-doctoral researchers from the Technical University of Denmark, have been working on "Green Fibre Bottles" – a "paper bottle" for beer.
Rombat is the largest producer of car batteries in Romania. Since 2005, the company has been collecting vehicle batteries to extract the lead they contain, recycle them and manufacture new batteries. The batteries are processed at the 3.7 ha Rebat facility in Copșa Mică.
The Hungarian fashion brand Sharolta makes upcycled denim clothes and bags in Budapest. They collect jeans at several collection points in the city, and work with companies that can provide them with textile waste.
PDR is a German company with extensive expertise in recycling materials, which has developed a groundbreaking technique to reuse polyurethane (PU) foam cans. In Germany, about 25 million cans are used each year, and a federal legislature has classified used PU foam cans as polluting waste which must be recycled.
Fortunale is entirely eco-friendly, and it is inspired by modern principles of circular economy: a Fortunale sweater is designed, from its origin, to be recycled at the end of its natural use until 80%, because it is made of pure wool, and this precious characteristic allows us to regenerate its fibers into new prime materials.
Nuova Sara oil separator centrifuges apply centrifugal force to separate shavings and metal waste. The de-oiled shavings can be recovered and valorised as secondary raw materials.