The Green Alley Award is Europe’s first prize for start-ups active in the circular economy, launched in 2014 by the Landbell Group.
The initiative aims at supporting a climate-neutral circular economy by encouraging and promoting promising business ideas to turn waste into resources and fight the abundance of plastic waste in our economy.
TailoredTile creates decorative tile pieces completely made of recovered plastic. The company also promotes circular economy by accepting used tilegrams in exchange of purchase discounts, as this material can be crushed and shaped more than once.
For New York's design week, NYCxDESIGN in May 2018, the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York invited chefs from the Helsinki-based Restaurant Nolla to bring their zero waste food philosophy to New York. The temporary bistro was built on themes of circular economy, new material innovations and sustainable design.
French company Seine Alliance repurposes EV batteries from cars to power boats for cruises on the river.
Music business can be circular, too! MWfono makes vinyl records from the waste that remains after cutting other records. Kayax label then packs the discs in recycled paper and employs a protection film made from maize.
See how circular procurement can help reduce waste in the Catalan La Mercè Race.
Revì aims to have a social impact by raising awareness about recycling furniture and encouraging local crafts. It also has an environmental impact by recovering material which would otherwise be classed as rubbish.
In order to create a new commercial use for raw wool, the Italian association Post Industriale Ruralità has developed a form of vertical hydroponic cultivation using wool instead of soil.
In their collection named Trencadís, Barcelona Rugs uses spare scraps from various materials of high quality to create unique rugs.
Finnish jewelry company EKORU makes jewelry out of discarded Finnish coins, old silver spoons and other cutlery. After Finland changed to the Euro, the metal of old Finnish coins found other purposes.
Dr Sarah Miller is Chief Executive of the Rediscovery Centre, Ireland's National Centre for the Circular Economy. Since 2005, Sarah has overseen the development of the centre as an ecological centre of excellence and an innovation hub for the circular economy in Ireland. Sarah has a keen interest in research and holds a PhD in Environmental Science, a Master’s in Business Administration and an Honours Degree in Biotechnology.
Based in Dublin, but operating on a national basis, the Rediscovery Centre is a creative movement connecting people, ideas and resources to support the circular economy and sustainable, low-carbon living. The centre’s work is built around the three key themes of education, demonstration and advocacy. To support the transition to a circular economy in Ireland, the centre provides training, education and events that inspire active participation and citizen engagement.
The visitor centre demonstrates good practice through social enterprise excellence, a reuse retail collective and onsite circular economy programmes and showcases. Working in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency, the centre also runs the national Circular Economy Academy, a free mentoring and support programme to assist social enterprises and community organisations embrace circularity. In collaboration with the Irish government, regional and city authorities, NGOs, academic institutions and corporate partners, the Rediscovery Centre’s education, research and policy team coordinate action-based programmes which drive change and support the circular economy in Ireland.
Het Hof van Cartesius is a non-governmental, bottom-up cooperative that provides circular and green workspaces for sustainable and creative entrepreneurs. The buildings are constructed completely with respect for circular design, using only secondary or biobased materials.
Since 2012, SWEETS hotel has been adapting Amsterdam's abandoned bridge houses into unique flats, thus preventing their demolition.
The Caverne d'Ali Baba (Ali Baba thieve's cave) is an initiative by and for students in the art school of ESA Saint-Luc, in Brussels.
According to the Fédération des Récupérathèques, of which the initiative belongs to, the service stands as a shared and co-managed warehouse of reuse materials, available to students for any of their creative projects.
As an adviser for environmental and climate policy, Leon de Graaf particularly follows policies related to the circular economy, trade and climate, low-emission mobility, implementation of the Paris climate agreement (COP21) and the European emission trading system (EU ETS). He is also deputy manager of BusinessEurope's corporate Advisory and Support Group (ASGroup). Prior to joining BusinessEurope, Leon worked at the research consultancy Ecorys, focusing on renewable energy and international development issues, at DG COMP on energy and environmental subsidies in Europe, and at the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) on indirect ETS costs for energy-intensive industries. Leon has a MSc in environmental economics and climate change from the London School of Economics, and a BSc in business economics from the University of Groningen.