Startups for the Future: These are our finalists
These six startups are nominated for the 2022 Green Alley Award and they are going to boost the circular economy.
We are protesting for the environment, in the middle of Berlin – but not by blocking motorways. Our protest is different. We will celebrate the circular economy during a live event. After two years, we are finally back: The Green Alley Award returns to Haus Ungarn in Berlin and will present Europe’s best Circular Economy business ideas live on stage.
This event will be an evening full of hope: hope in the inventiveness and ingenuity of mankind. Hope that young innovators and entrepreneurs will come up with ideas to stop environmental pollution, to prevent climate change and finally save this planet. Hope that together we can make change happen.
Climate change, pollution and littering do not stop at national borders, they are global challenges that need to be tackled internationally. Appropriately enough, the six Green Alley Award finalists are truly European, coming from Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK. From circular textiles and sustainable packaging to circular batteries and the digital circular economy, the startups address vital topics – and here are their outstanding solutions:
Agree (Italy)
No more plastic wrapping: While France has just banned most fruit and vegetables from being sold in plastic packaging, also other countries are looking for alternatives. And here comes Agree into play: They have developed a plant-based edible coating made of agricultural by-products to protect fruits and vegetables. And they claim that this coating is able to increase shelf life and avoid food waste just as well as the wrapping made of plastics.
https://agreenet.webflow.io
Atelier Riforma (Italy)
Enabling circular fashion: For the EU, the textile industry is a priority sector whilst moving towards sustainability. Big and small fashion lables are more and more forced to address both the environmental and social impacts of fast fashion. Support comes from Italy: Here, the startup Atelier Riforma helps the fashion industry to optimize the reuse and resale of textile waste by using AI technology for collection and sorting as well as a digital marketplace for B2B sales.
www.atelier-riforma.it/en/
Flexi-Hex (UK)
Eliminate styrofoam and bubble wrap: Fragile items need to be protected during transport – and this can also be done sustainably with the paper packaging by FlexiHex! Although the material is FSC certified and made of over 75 % recycled content, it is the design that makes this product special: The UK startup has invented a paper sleeve in a patented honeycomb design with a hexagonal cell structure that is strong and protective but also adaptable to many applications.
www.flexi-hex.com
MakeGrowLab (Poland)
Biomaterial revolution: Especially for cosmetics and food products, plastic is still the material of choice because of its outstanding oxygen, grease, and water barrier. The Polish startup MakeGrowLab will now change this game. Their coatings and films with plastic-like properties are grown from food waste and can be synthesised in just a couple of days. At the end of life, this circular packaging solution can be either recycled like paper or biodegrade in your organic bin.
www.makegrowlab.com
ScrapAd (Spain)
Green marketing: Lack of information in the recycling industry often confronts buyers and sellers of recyclable materials with various risks that make this business less profitable for them. Therefore, the Spanish startup ScrapAd provides a global platform for trading recyclable materials and guarantees safe transactions. Their service includes the verification of materials, payment security, locating the material and also organising the logistics.
www.scrapad.com
Voltfang (Germany)
Extending the lifecycle of batteries: The number of electric cars on our roads will increase to 30 million by 2030 according to EU plans and so will the amount of waste batteries from these cars. The good news is: These lithium-ion batteries are not dead after being swapped out of EVs and still have a lot of juice left. Therefore, Voltfang wants to give these batteries a second life. The German startup has developed a green electricity storage system using electric car batteries to provide clean energy at home.
www.voltfang.de
Would you like to meet these startups and experience the award ceremony live in Berlin? Register now for the event here: https://green-alley-award.com/event-registration/