The 2022 Green Alley Award has opened to public voting. It recognizes innovative circular startups in Europe and encourages public participation. From projects that grow biodegradable packaging and reuse car batteries, to one that replaces styrofoam with grain husks, here’s the longlist
Emma Sheppard
January 18, 2022
The 2022 Green Alley Award has opened to public voting. It recognizes innovative circular startups in Europe and encourages public participation. From projects that grow biodegradable packaging and reuse car batteries, to one that replaces styrofoam with grain husks, here’s the longlist
The EU is aiming to become climate neutral by 2050. Although great strides were made in recent years to create more circular economies, there is still much to be done. A number of European startups are using technology to reduce waste, clean up oceans, and close the recycling loop.
The annual Green Alley AwardThe goal of the exhibition is to highlight the work of some startups. The public has until February 15th to submit their work. to voteClick below to vote for their favorite venture from the long list. The venture with the highest number of votes will be included in the finals along with five others chosen by an expert panel.
Plastic packaging for some fruits and vegetable has been banned in countries such as France and – from next year – the same will happen in Spain. It means that there is a race to either go naked or find alternative packaging. Italian startup AgreeThis edible coating is plant-based and made from agricultural byproducts. It can be applied to preserve the shelf life for some fruits or veg.
Image: NRD
Viktoria Berger, an Austrian designer, has been creating sustainable packaging since winning a City of Linz innovation prize in 2019. After Covid-19, Viktoria Berger focused her attention on creating reusable take-out containers. The pilot phase was a success in Linz, Vienna and Graz and the scheme is now being expanded to more restaurants. Customers can register using an app and scan the QR code at the top of the lid to return the containers to their original restaurant within 14-days. They will also receive reward vouchers.
Image: and-less
Co-founders of Atelier RiformaItalian textile upcyclers are bringing textile recycling into the 21st Century. They collect secondhand clothing, which are cataloged and tracked using AI technology. These garments are then upcycled and sold online by designers and tailors to socially conscious buyers.
Image: Atelier Riforma
It’s a staggering 87 per cent of used clothingEnds up in landfills, or incinerators. Dutch startup BioFashionTechA low-energy, cost-effective circular recycling process has been developed that converts textile waste into new products. It also extracts plastic fibers and dyes which can be then sold to create a closed-loop solution.
Image: Maude Frederique Lavoie
Electric vehicle battery demand is expected to increase increase 10-fold by 2030, but the environmental impact will be huge if they’re not repurposed. The german government has the following: Circunomics team has developed the world’s first data analytics platform and marketplace to manage the full lifecycle of lithium-ion batteries, from prolonging their usage to managing second life trading and recycling tendering.
Image: Myenergi
Organisations are increasingly having to prioritise environmental compliance, but many don’t know where to start. EdacIt is a cloud-based platform that allows businesses to log, monitor and manage their eco-credentials using a customizable dashboard.
Image: John Schnobrich
The majority of new plastic is still made with fossil fuels. Recycling barely makes a dent in the demand for virgin-grade material. But the team behind Enzymity in Latvia has discovered a way to use biotechnology to turn PET waste into high-grade ‘like new’ plastic without involving fossil fuels.
Image by Ishan Seefromthesky
The honeycomb design is unique Flexi-Hex’s paper packaging is strong and adaptable enough to protect everything from bottles and homeware to electronics and surfboards (HQ is in Cornwall, home to some of the UK’s most popular surf spots). The sleeves are made from 85 percent recycled material and compost in six weeks. They can also be recycled at home.
Image: Flexi-Hex
Based in Gothenburg Sweden GlenntexChalmers University of Technology was the place where it was established. The team has created nano-sized graphene materials that improve the performance and reduce the amount of virgin material in packaging and other products.
Image: Glenntex
Spanish social enterprise Gravity WavePartners with Mediterranean fishermen to collect plastic from seabed. The waste is then used to make sustainable products such as cell phone cases and filament for 3D printers. The social enterprise also helps companies become ‘plastic neutral’ by collecting the equivalent amount of plastic that their employees generate.
Image: Gravity Wave
Recycling packaging is great, but what about if it could actually be grown? Poland is home to the Polish Ministry of Agriculture. MakeGrowLabA material that can be grown from food waste in a matter of days has been invented by the company. It’s approved for food contact, is resistant to oxygen and water, and is 100 per cent compostable.
Image by MakeGrowLab
UK supermarkets use 114bn pieces of single-use plastic a year – the equivalent of 4,000 items per household. MoreeThe company is currently running pilot projects in London to address this problem.
Image by Moree
The team behind the Italian startup NazenaA patented process that recovers 100% of textile fibres from industrial waste and old clothes has been developed by the company. These fibres are then used to make sustainable packaging and soundproof wall panels.
Image: Nazena
Food waste has increased due to hygiene and contamination concerns. French company is not to be outdone. PandobacA reusable packaging service is being developed for food wholesalers and delivery companies. Companies can rent transport bins of different sizes, wash them, and track them using QR codes.
Image: Pandobac
Peggada means ‘footprint’ in Portuguese, and the team behind this online platform is encouraging Lisbon residents to reduce theirs. It offers tips on how to live sustainably and a list of environmentally-friendly businesses. The project was a finalist in the Women4Climate programmePlans to expand to other cities in future.
Image: Aayushgupta
Styrofoam, a packaging staple, cannot be recycled but remains in wide circulation. ProservationGerman scientists have developed a natural alternative using grain-husks. It is 100% biodegradable and boasts the same lightweight, shock-absorbing, and insulation properties as traditional grain husks.
Image: Proservation
Digitalizing the scrap industry ScrapAd was named by Spain’s leading entrepreneurship magazine as one of the most innovative startups in 2021. It’s a marketplace for the purchase and sale of all recyclable materials, from metal and plastic, to paper and electronic waste, and is already live in 40 countries.
ScrapAd
There are many things to consider when recycling. UK households sent 6.6m tonnes to landfill in 2019. This free app aims to simplify the process: users just scan a product’s barcode to find out which part of the packaging is recyclable in their UK location and earn points for doing so. These points can be used via Scrapp’s in-app sustainable marketplace, or donated to affiliated charities such as Plastic Bank.
Image: Scrapp Ltd
Hospitals produce a lot of waste. The NHS is an example of this. 133m tonnesannually. Many of these plastics are difficult to recycle and cost prohibitive to manage. Source OneGermany has developed a solution that, according to its team, can extract up 95% of the recyclable plastic material out of this type of waste.
Image: Diana Polekhina
The rise in popularity of electric cars is good news to lower emissions but bad news to battery waste. The team at a German startup VoltfangRepurposing old car batteries can be a solution to private home electricity storage.
Image by Voltfang
Main image: Ezra Bailey/Getty
Positive News readers have the opportunity to vote for their favorite circular startup here. Voters will be entered in a prize draw to win a choice of three Trendraider sustainable boxes, containing ‘circular lifestyle products’. The six startups will then present their ideas to an international jury on 28 April and the winner will receive €25,000 (£20,856). Voting closes on 15 February
