The Green Alley Award, Europe's first award for circular economy start-ups, has selected the finalists for 2024 from over 300 applications. Six start-ups will present their solutions at the Green Alley Award final in Berlin on 25 April 2024. The winning start-up will receive prize money totalling 25,000 euros.
Since 2014, Landbell Group, an international provider of take-back, consulting and software solutions for environmental and chemical compliance, has presented the Green Alley Award to start-ups whose innovative products, services or technologies contribute to this goal, utilise resources more efficiently and drastically reduce waste. This year's finalists offer new solutions for sustainable packaging, intelligent recycling and the utilisation of food, plastic and textile waste to produce useful products.
These are the 6 finalists:
AraBat (Italy) presents an advanced and sustainable technology that supports battery users and manufacturers in recycling used batteries and recovering raw materials. It uses biomass-based processes that utilise by-products and waste from fruit and vegetable processing.
Carbon Cell (UK) has developed a carbon-neutral, biodegradable rigid foam made from waste that offers competitive thermal and acoustic insulation, strength and fire resistance for companies that use polystyrene packaging (e.g. for consumer electronics) to protect their products from shocks and temperature fluctuations during transport.
Ecopolplast (Poland) has an innovative technology for the production of Ecoplastomer, a new product category - recycled TPEs made from 100 per cent recycled material: They help to rethink the use of recycled material in production and reduce CO2 emissions. The products are mixed mechanically, without chemical additives or stabilisers. This minimises the environmental impact and CO2 emissions.
Novapedra (Spain) is developing a sustainable material from organic waste as an alternative to ceramics that does not require the use of natural gas for its production.
PulpaTronics (Great Britain) offers sustainable RFID tags that simplify material sourcing and transport, streamline manufacturing, reduce CO2 emissions by 70 per cent and halve costs. They help retailers find affordable inventory management solutions while achieving sustainability goals.
"We are delighted to announce the six finalists of this year's Green Alley Awards. Each of these start-ups epitomises innovation, entrepreneurship and commitment to sustainability. From recycling technologies to circular business models, these finalists are leading the way to a more sustainable future. At Landbell Group, we are convinced that start-ups are contributing to a significant change in our circular economy journey."Jan Patrick SchulzCEO of Landbell Group and founder of the Green Alley Award
The Green Alley Award was created to young companies that are pioneers in the field of the circular economy in Europe and to honour and support them. Over the past ten years, the award has played a decisive role in shaping the future of some of today's established companies that began as start-ups. These include, among others traceless materials, S.Lab and Sulapack.
The number of applications for the Green Alley Award has increased enormously in recent years. This demonstrates the global commitment to promoting practices and innovations in the circular economy and tackle ecological challenges creatively. With 339 applications from all over Europe, the current edition is the most successful to date, which is 50 per cent more than last year. Most of the applications came from Germany (19 %), followed by the UK (16 %), Italy (11 %) and Spain (9 %). The solutions presented range from waste prevention (36 %) to digital solutions and recycling (32% each). All projects offer solutions for the circular economy and are characterised by through innovative business ideas and strong, committed teams from.
