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Date: 2025-01-11 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00012109

Sustainability / Circular Economy
The Circulars ... Winners and Finalists for 2016

Last Year's Finalists

The Circulars 2016 Finalists were decided by our Circulars Judging Panel, with the Winner of each category honoured at a ceremony at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos in January 2016. Please click on the links below to view the fantastic array of Winners, Runners Up and Finalists that were selected across the seven categories. You can also view the People's Choice Finalists as well as the 2015 Finalists.


Else Bos

CEO. PGGM

Else Bos, CEO of PGGM, is looking to drive circular transformation in the Netherlands through responsible financing and investment by engaging with companies and key industry players to help them stimulate circular growth. Else describes the circular economy as 'the next step for responsible investment' and founded the international working group FinanCE, which brings together banking, investment, accountancy and scientific sectors to help improve the understanding of the role of finance in the circular economy. Next to being a CE100-member, Else is also a member of ‘The Netherlands as a Circular Hotspot’ taskforce and is currently developing a Circular Assessment Tool to assess the circularity of investments.


Estelle Brachlianoff

Senior Vice-President, UK & Ireland, Veolia

Estelle Brachlianoff, circular economy spokeswoman and Senior Vice President of Veolia in the UK and Ireland, has taken the circular economy debate to the next level. Instrumental in launching Veolia’s ‘Resourcing the World’ strategy based on a circular business model, Estelle helped the company reduce its CO2 emissions by over 22 million tons in 2014. Beyond the organization, she has supported circular collaboration and inspired numerous businesses to adopt the circular economy with the message that companies can deliver change now. Estelle has become a regular conference speaker at high-profile circular economy-focused events including addressing the Ellen McArthur Foundation CE100 on ‘Living Circular – Delivering Value’ in 2015.


Feike Sijbesma

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Managing Board, Royal DSM

Feike Sijbesma, CEO of Royal DSM, has led the global science-focused organization with its headquarter based in the Netherlands in identifying innovative solutions to global issues and, externally, has pushed the circular economy to a higher level, within government and across civil society. He has contributed to, and chaired, a variety of panels for circular economy sessions at the World Economic Forum. Under Feike’s leadership, Royal DSM opened its first commercial scale factory in the USA converting waste into energy and is spearheading research into fossil fuel substitutes. He has also helped DSM transform the solar energy sector by turning the manufacture of energy-boosting film coverings into a product-as-a-service.


Hermann Erdmann

CEO, REDISA (Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa)

As founding member and CEO of REDISA, Hermann Erdmann has driven the creation of the Integrated Industry Waste Tyre Management Plan which has brought to life a circular economy within the South African tire industry on a macro scale. The model, which implements Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) through an industry-independent body, is on track to achieve 100 percent diversion rates of available waste tires within just five years. By working with key partners over nearly a decade, Hermann developed the REDISA Plan, a global first of its kind collaboration between government and the private sector. He has also conducted numerous roadshows across South Africa to educate the industry and consumers on REDISA and its circular approach.


Professor Dajian Zhu

Director, Institute of Governance for Sustainability,Tongji University, China

Dajian Zhu, is a distinguished Professor and Director of the Sustainable Development and Governance Institute. Since 1998, he has published a series of papers and books on the circular economy and helped promote China’s green transition to the circular economy. Zhu is a thinker, advocate and communicator of the circular economy model in China, a relatively new concept in the country. He has been actively involved in China’s policy consulting, law promotion and education, as well as circular economy activities under the World Economic Forum and the World Resource Forum. As the primary expert in China, Zhu has been invited to be a keynote speaker at conferences and universities all over the world.


Thomas Rau

Founder & CEO, Turntoo & RAU

Thomas Rau, founder of Turntoo and RAU Architects, two of the first companies in the Netherlands dedicated to the circular economy, created some of the original examples of circular economy concepts and business models including: the Light as a Service (“pay per lux”) contract, which he developed together with Philips in 2010; a model for renting out washing machines on a performance basis with Bosch in 2012; the first circular building as a raw materials depot in the municipality of Brummen in 2013 and the first circular net energy positive building for network provider Liander in 2015. Recently Turntoo launched an initiative for the Universal Declaration of Material Rights as a contribution to codify circular economy principles on a global level.




Caterpillar Inc

US-based equipment manufacturer, Caterpillar Inc., has incorporated circular economy principles across its value chain, including product development, human resources, supply chain, dealer network, and customer relationships. Caterpillar's remanufacturing business takes back over 80 thousand tons of end-of-life material from customers annually and remanufactures it into good-as-new condition. The company also implements digital technology to drive circular transformation via its remanufacturing, alternative energy and customer job optimization initiatives. An example is its “Cat® Connect” technology, which uses technology to optimize customer fleets and their operations. In all, the company’s circular economy portfolio generated almost 10 billion USD in 2014, accounting for 18 percent of the company’s total sales and revenues.

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HP

The global technology company, HP, is embracing the circular economy across its value chain by closing the material loop, designing out waste, and offering service models that deliver alternatives to linear life cycles. An example of HP’s circular approach is its closed loop recycling program in which plastic from HP ink and toner cartridges recovered via its Planet Partners program, is combined with other plastics to create new HP ink supplies. Since 2004 HP’s collaborative solution has used over 108 million pounds of recycled plastic from over 382 million HP ink cartridges, 3 billion water bottles and 40 million apparel hangers. Today, more than 75 percent of HP ink cartridges contain recycled plastics.

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Royal Philips

Royal Philips is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people’s lives in the areas of health technology and lighting. Its vision is to make the world healthier and more sustainable through meaningful innovation. Philips builds on two approaches to contribute to a circular economy: i) Transitioning from selling products to providing solutions as services and ii) designing and manufacturing high quality products for multiple lifecycles, including the integration of used components and recycled materials. Additionally, Philips uses its position as a leading global technology enterprise to move standards, infrastructure and international policies towards a circular economy.

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Tarkett

Tarkett, a leading, global flooring company based in Paris, France, with sales in more than 100 countries, is committed to making the transition to the circular economy, inspired by Cradle to Cradle® principles. Since 2011, Tarkett, guided by this vision, has been deploying a comprehensive circular economy strategy based on its ‘closed-loop circular design’ model. This is driven by an extensive eco-innovation strategy, which positively contributes to people’s health and well-being and the planet at every step of the product’s life (design, production, use and recycling). Tarkett has been at the forefront of setting new industry standards, based on healthy materials, supporting a positive closed-loop system. In this regard, it has been a pioneer in developing a healthy alternative to the phthalate plasticizers in its vinyl flooring, following Cradle to Cradle® guidelines. Leading the industry, it now uses phthalate-free plasticizers in all of its American and European vinyl production sites and has set a target to roll this new technology out to all of its vinyl production sites worldwide by 2020. Alongside this, Tarkett has developed a wide range of flooring solutions that contribute to improved indoor air quality – including low VOCs, anti-allergens and technology that combats fine dust in the air - while designing its products with high levels of recycled content and implementing recycling programs.

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Unilever

The British-Dutch Multinational consumer goods company, Unilever, began its Zero-Non-Hazardous-Waste-to-Landfill (ZNHWTL) journey in 2008. The company set a target, as part of the Unilever-Sustainable-Living-Plan commitment, to maintain its existing waste to landfill levels despite the aim of the business doubling in size. By the end of 2014 it had achieved its circular target ahead of schedule, having implemented ZNHWTL in more than 240 of its manufacturing sites (100 percent), in 67 countries, across six continents. The environmental benefits of ZNHWTL included 140,000 tonnes less waste to landfill and the creation of more than 1000 jobs as well as economic benefits of more than €220m. Unilever is now focusing on implementing the ZNHWTL program beyond its factories, into its offices, distribution centers and warehouses.

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Veolia

The circular economy is at the core of global leader in optimized resource management, Veolia's, strategy and commitments. By breaking water, waste and energy silos, and innovating by combining digital technologies with advanced industrial processes, Veolia has led circular collaboration across industries, cities, and communities. Building on the expertise of its 179,000 people, the company has developed circular models including remanufacturing from waste, prolongation of equipment lifecycles, renewable supplies and wastewater recycling. Today, Veolia manages the energy services of over 2,000 industrial facilities and has recovered over 38 million tons of waste in 2014. It is focused on its commitment to the planet via continued innovation, cooperation and business transformation by building and shaping the circular economy.

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AeroFarms

US-based AeroFarms has invented a disruptive circular technology for the agricultural industry. AeroFarms has become a global leader in commercial-scale sustainable agriculture and is over 70 times more productive than a conventional farm in terms of areal output. The company grows non-genetically modified leafy greens that are more nutrient dense using 95 percent less water, 60 percent less fertilizer, and zero pesticides, herbicides or fungicides. AeroFarms created this optimal technology based on data collection utilizing fewer inputs and creating better outputs, with the aim of eliminating all waste. Within the past four years AeroFarms has proven its technology by building eight functioning commercial farms and winning multiple awards for innovation.

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Drivy

Based in France, Drivy is the European market leader for peer-to-peer car-sharing. Operating in France, Germany and Spain, over the course of three years Drivy has tripled the scale of its business to 700,000 users and 35,000 private cars that are available to rent via the service. The company partners with Allianz to provide a specifically-designed insurance product to comprehensively insure both sides of the rental. Drivy have proven in all three markets that consumer behaviors are changing and they now see a car as an asset beyond simple ownership that can be put to effective use via sharing. Please note the video is in German.

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Miniwiz Ltd

Miniwiz Ltd, an international recycled material supplier, engineering, design and manufacturing company based in Taiwan, gained recognition in architecture circles in 2010 after building ‘Ecoark’, a museum made completely out of recycled plastic PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) bottles. Since then, the company has built processing infrastructure to broaden intake of tough-to-recycle trash, leveraging this garbage to make building materials, while simultaneously eliminating waste and reducing its environmental footprint. Miniwiz has also assisted with sustainability and circularity issues in an array of organizations worldwide for over 10 years across various industries including retail, hospitality, manufacturing, food waste recycling plants and interior design.

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Neptuno Pumps

Neptuno Pumps is a world-class designer and manufacturer of energy efficient, innovative and sustainable pumping solutions. The company produces 60 percent of its products with reused and recycled materials from old worn pumps, reducing its carbon footprint by 70 percent. It also delivers remanufactured pumps that are energy efficient, 30% cheaper and with a one-year warranty just as a brand new equipment. Located in the Atacama Desert, Chile, where water is scarce and energy prices are the highest in Latin America, Neptuno Pumps understands the importance of resource-efficiency and the circular economy and has also worked with global mining and engineering organizations to help them develop innovative circular approaches.

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Optoro

US-based reverse logistics company, Optoro, offers a superior end-to-end reverse logistics solution that helps retailers optimally process and sell their distressed inventory. Using comprehensive, world-class data analytics, Optoro’s software platform determines the best path for returned and excess goods, simultaneously maximizing recovery value for retailers and giving consumers better deals. In addition, Optoro’s software solution reduces the environmental damage typically produced by a conventionally wasteful industry. By cutting out the long chain of middlemen in the reverse supply chain and facilitating the reuse of used but perfectly functional products, Optoro has helped pioneer sustainable commerce, keeping items out of landfills and extending products’ lifespans. Ultimately, Optoro changes the way retailers view their distressed inventory; rather than seeing it as waste or a liability, the company’s circular-focused software helps present it as a source of value.

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TerraCycle

TerraCycle, an internationally recognized recycling company leading the way for the circular economy across the world, creates recycling solutions for traditionally non-recyclable waste streams. By working directly with major brands, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers and governments, the company is able to create new applications and recycling methods for waste streams that were previously destined for linear disposal. TerraCycle collects and repurposes 100's of types of 'non-recyclable' waste streams including: coffee capsules, cigarette butts, snack wrappers, beverage pouches, oral care waste, and beauty products. The company’s many brand partners, including L’Oreal, Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, and countless others, sponsor TerraCycle’s innovative waste collection and recycling platforms, allowing individuals, schools, businesses and other organizations to recycle waste in their communities at no cost. This circular business model not only creates voluntary and highly efficient collection systems, but it also addresses the problems of localization and the limited nature of traditional recycling. Collectively, TerraCycle and its partners and participants have recycled over 3 billion pieces of waste and raised almost 15 million dollars (US) for charity.

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AgriProtein Technologies South Africa

AgriProtein Technologies, a natural protein feed business based in South Africa, is spearheading the new industry of nutrient recycling by mimicking nature via insect-based technologies. AgriProtein Technologies helps divert 35,000 cubic meters per year of waste food from landfill, a saving that is crucial when considering new alternatives for high protein demand. Not only does the company provide an innovative and less expensive method for reducing waste in landfills, it also processes food waste, converting it into animal feed, oil, and organic fertilizer. The processes developed by AgriProtein Technologies allows for waste to be turned into usable products, replacing traditionally unsustainable protein farms and leading to environmental cost savings of over 112 million USD each year.

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LanzaTech

LanzaTech, a US-based clean-tech company, is revolutionizing the way the world thinks about waste carbon by treating it as an opportunity instead of a liability. LanzaTech’s novel gas-to-liquid technology has opened up opportunities for making low-carbon chemicals and fuels that displace petroleum without the environmental concerns associated with crop- and land-based bioproducts. The company’s proprietary microbes capture and recycle waste gases before they are emitted as greenhouse gases, reducing harmful nitrous and sulphur oxides by over 85 percent. This circular technology has allowed LanzaTech to enable companies around the world to drive revenue from waste streams and work across sectors that previously would have been closed to them.

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New Hope Ecotech

New Hope Ecotech, a technology solution company headquartered in Brazil, leverages informal recycling flows to create a formal pathway for manufacturers to fulfill their government mandates, all in an economic, transparent, and inclusive way. The digital platform connects manufacturers with waste pickers via innovative trade-able environmental securities (similar to carbon credits, but for recyclables). In 2015, New Hope Ecotech will impact more than 1000 actors in the recycling chain, track over 3,600 tons of recycled material and potentially issue over 500,000 USD in certificates; sharing the value back to the recycling actors. The company, therefore, not only solves manufacturers’ recycling obligations, it also increases overall recycling rates and generates additional income for waste pickers.

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Newlight Technologies

Founded in 2003, USA-based Newlight Technologies has developed and commercialized a carbon capture technology that converts greenhouse gas emissions into a material called AirCarbon. AirCarbon, made by pulling carbon out of greenhouse gases, is being used by Newlight Technologies to replace plastics made from oil. Based on a breakthrough in biocatalyst technology developed over 10 years, AirCarbon grew to commercial scale in 2013. Since then, the AirCarbon produced by Newlight Technologies has been adopted by the likes of Dell, Virgin, Sprint, HP, KI, and The Body Shop, to make products such as bags, furniture, cell phone cases, and caps, that would otherwise have been manufactured from oil-based materials.

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Stuffstr PBC

Stuffstr PBC, a technology company based in the USA, has developed a mobile application aiming to make it easy for consumers, retailers, and manufacturers to make sustainable choices. Application users seamlessly upload their purchase histories from top national retailers and Stuffstr helps them engage with their items in new, innovative ways, by allowing them to resell, repair, rent, donate, or recycle their items with just a few simple taps. Stuffstr’s vision statement is “No Unused Stuff” and the company has developed an award-winning service and business model that is designed to accelerate the global shift to a circular economy. Stuffstr is also laying the digital infrastructure for a full range of circular programs including product take-back and buyback, product leasing, and product-as-a-service initiatives.

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City of Citrus Heights, California, USA

Despite recycling programs, over half of U.S. trash ends up in landfills. Citrus Heights, California signed on for the first-ever Energy Bag Pilot Program, a public-private collaboration with Dow and other partners to mine fuel from typically non-recycled plastics (NRP), keeping them from landfills. The program proved that NRP like plastic dinnerware can be successfully collected and converted into energy at the U.S. municipal level, and that pyrolysis projects are possible within the U.S. recycling infrastructure. Citrus Heights was introduced to a new way to recycle, requiring virtually no extra effort by its residents. Approximately 26,000 households received “Energy Bags” to collect plastics not currently eligible for mechanical recycling. Collaborator Agilyx applied thermal pyrolysis technology to convert the NRP into synthetic crude oil. Approximately 6,000 pounds were diverted from landfills and 512 gallons of synthetic crude oil were produced, which can be refined to make products like gasoline and plastic.

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City of Sydney, Australia

In Sydney, Australia, 80 percent of the 25,000 tons of waste generated by office space release goes to landfill. The Better Buildings Partnership, a collaboration of 23 major property owners and influencers, overseen by the City of Sydney, has seized the opportunity for radical market change and is working on systemic and practical ways of raising recovery rates towards an 80 percent recovery target by 2020. Via large scale collaborations, proof-of-concept trials and changes to waste management processes, the Better Buildings Partnership has already demonstrated that it can achieve 60 percent recovery at no additional project cost. In addition, the City of Sydney formed a partnership with Good 360, to distribute unwanted commercial goods to charities through a national distribution network, and has rehomed 200 tons of materials since 2013 to those who need them most.

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Flanders’ Materials Programme, Belgium

The Flanders’ Materials Programme, a public-private initiative run by OVAM, the public waste & materials agency in the Flanders region of Belgium, combines ambitious long-term vision development, experimental pilot projects, policy-relevant research and concrete priority actions on the basis of an iterative road mapping process in order to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. The Flanders' Materials Programme describes itself as a ‘network of networks’, comprising the frontrunners within government, industry, universities and research centres, and non-governmental organizations. Based on its extensive experience in sustainable materials management, the Programme's multi-actor systemic project approach is able to identify drivers and barriers to materials management, leveraging opportunities in the context of the circular economy via innovation, international logistics, new jobs and skills creation, the redesigning of economic policy instruments, consumer behaviour and circular public procurement. To disseminate the knowledge it gains from its projects, Flanders’ has developed different educational and management tools to prevent value escaping the material flows.

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National Zero Waste Council, Metro Vancouver, Canada

The National Zero Waste Council, a Canadian leadership initiative, brings together government, business and community change agents to advance waste prevention. With efforts traditionally focused on ‘end-of-pipe’ waste management, the National Zero Waste Council is pioneering a shift upstream - calling for national action to address waste generation. By reframing the conversation, the Council is positioning waste prevention and the circular economy as an opportunity for innovation, job creation, competitiveness, and cost saving. Founded by Metro Vancouver in collaboration with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Council is uniting local governments, including five of Canada’s largest metropolitan regions - Metro Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax and Edmonton – with key stakeholders, influencing change on a national scale.

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REDISA (Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa)

REDISA (Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa), an organisation which forms a unique collaboration between the government and private sector in South Africa, receives a waste management fee for all tyres manufactured and imported to the country, which is used to develop a new tyre recycling industry. The REDISA model provides producers with the opportunity to reduce their costs by incorporating circularity, and uses the collected waste management fee to directly fund the development of recycling industries, establish reverse logistics networks, and carry out research and development. Within two years, REDISA is dealing with 70 percent of waste tyres arising, up from 4 percent, and is not only diverting waste from landfill, it is delivering positive social impacts via enhanced job creation and SMME support.

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ArcTern Ventures

ArcTern Ventures is Canada's leading early-stage cleantech investor. The Fund has developed a unique early-stage investment model through its partnership with the MaRS Discovery District, one of the largest innovation centers in world. Amongst its key investment criteria is the potential to significantly impact carbon emissions and the sustainable use of resources. The first Fund has invested approximately 40 million Canadian dollars in 10 portfolio companies across the clean-tech spectrum and has generated strong investor returns. ArcTern is run by a team of former startup entrepreneurs who’ve 'lived it', building multiple startups from concept to exit. The team works closely with all the companies in the portfolio to help them accelerate their time to market.

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Circularity Capital LLP

Circularity Capital LLP is a specialist investment firm which supports the growth and innovation of small-to-medium sized enterprises within the circular economy. Circularity Capital's team combines specialist circular economy expertise and over 40-years of investment experience. The firm’s thorough investment process begins with the application of a positive circular economy screen to identify and select investment opportunities. Circularity Capital’s focus results in crucial financial support for those businesses that are accelerating the circular economy and in turn is helping to trigger a wider scale shift of capital towards the circular economy. Circularity Capital is based in the UK and targets investment opportunities across Europe.

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Closed Loop Fund

The Closed Loop Fund, based in the USA, is a social impact fund investing 100 million USD to increase the recycling of products and packaging. The Fund’s entire portfolio is circular economy- focused. It ensures buy-in from major consumer goods companies (and other corporations interested in cutting-edge innovation), presenting the case that short-term investment in the development of a more efficient recycling infrastructure at the municipal-level will generate long-term value and cost savings. Given its structure of corporate funding, the Closed Loop Fund touches every component of the recycling value chain, from local governments to industry, markets, supply chains, haulers, material recovery facilities and converters.

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DLL

DLL, global provider of asset based financial solutions, believes in new, sustainable and circular business models that marry profitability with environmental and social benefits. The firm supports circular-focused business models by offering a Lifecycle Asset Management program. Through this program, DLL encourages its partners, which include manufacturers and dealers, to expand their businesses into the full technical life of their equipment. In doing so, DLL encourages businesses to focus on usage, rather than ownership of assets, and ensures that its programs embrace the economic management of assets throughout their entire technical lifespan.

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Intesa Sanpaolo

A European banking group headquartered in Italy, Intesa Sanpaolo seeks to be a responsible financial intermediary by supporting and advancing the transition towards the circular economy. By partnering with research and development centers across the globe to scout start-ups, aiding the adoption of new circular economy protocols, and launching joint programs with distinct circular champions, Intesa Sanpaolo is among the leading European financial institutions supporting the European Investment Bank’s efforts to develop the circular economy in Europe. The circular economy has not only enhanced Intesa Sanpaolo’s existing capacity to invest in innovation, it has also resulted in its status as a leading financial institution working with the local Government and cities to promote new forms of circular economic development, growth and employment across Europe.

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Apto Solutions

Apto Solutions, a computer hardware company based in the USA, acts as the circular linchpin for reusing and recycling customers' technology assets. By leading with innovative software solutions, Apto Solutions injects transparency into a legacy industry that, until now, has been primarily focused on hardware. The company has established a network of trusted partners that take IT equipment from in-production through sanitization, all the way to the recycling process. Apto Solutions recovers value from its customers’ unwanted assets by protecting them from costly data breaches, and also by reusing and reselling equipment. This all occurs in a single, integrated, circular process that prolongs the life of the customers’ technology.

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AutoGrid

The expense and complexity of traditional electric grids that use centralized generation to burn fossil fuels has placed access to power out of reach of approximately 1.2 billion people. Innovative technology created by AutoGrid, an energy company based in the USA, offers a new path forward using a circular business model and disruptive technologies to provide populations with access to clean, affordable, reliable power. AutoGrid is blazing this new path forward with cloud-based big data analytics technology and Energy Internet applications that are disrupting the trillion-dollar energy industry. By providing utilities with a comprehensive, dynamic portrait of the power system, AutoGrid is enabling utilities to expand the electric grid without consuming additional non-renewable resources.

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Materials Marketplace

The US-based Materials Marketplace is a collaboration led by the US Business Council for Sustainable Development (US BCSD), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and Corporate Eco Forum to track and exchange undervalued materials via a cloud-based database, establish new circular supply chains, and identify policy changes supportive of the circular economy. The digital platform allows users to easily post available or desired materials, receive expert recommendations, and transact reuse opportunities. Building on the success of a pilot earlier in 2015, the Marketplace plans to expand to over a hundred participating organizations in the US, and scale to other regions through combined organizational networks.

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New Hope Ecotech

New Hope Ecotech, a technology solution company headquartered in Brazil, leverages informal recycling flows to create a formal pathway for manufacturers to fulfil their government mandates, all in an economic, transparent, and inclusive way. The digital platform connects manufacturers with waste pickers via innovative trade-able environmental securities (similar to carbon credits, but for recyclables). In 2015, New Hope Ecotech will impact more than 1000 actors in the recycling chain, track over 3,600 tons of recycled material and potentially issue over 500,000 USD in certificates; sharing the value back to the recycling actors. The company, therefore, not only solves manufacturers’ recycling obligations, it also increases overall recycling rates and generates additional income for waste pickers.

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Optoro

US-based reverse logistics company, Optoro, offers a superior end-to-end reverse logistics solution that helps retailers optimally process and sell their distressed inventory. Using comprehensive, world-class data analytics, Optoro’s software platform determines the best path for returned and excess goods, simultaneously maximizing recovery value for retailers and giving consumers better deals. In addition, Optoro’s software solution reduces the environmental damage typically produced by a conventionally wasteful industry. By cutting out the long chain of middlemen in the reverse supply chain and facilitating the reuse of used but perfectly functional products, Optoro has helped pioneer sustainable commerce, keeping items out of landfills and extending products’ lifespans. Ultimately, Optoro changes the way retailers view their distressed inventory; rather than seeing it as waste or a liability, the company’s circular-focused software helps present it as a source of value.

watch video visit website

Stuffstr PBC

Stuffstr PBC, a technology company based in the USA, has developed a mobile application aiming to make it easy for consumers, retailers, and manufacturers to make sustainable choices. Application users seamlessly upload their purchase histories from top national retailers and Stuffstr helps them engage with their items in new, innovative ways, by allowing them to resell, repair, rent, donate, or recycle their items with just a few simple taps. Stuffstr’s vision statement is “No Unused Stuff” and the company has developed an award-winning service and business model that is designed to accelerate the global shift to a circular economy. Stuffstr is also laying the digital infrastructure for a full range of circular programs including product take-back and buyback, product leasing, and product-as-a-service initiatives.

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