Five finalists compete for Circular Award 2018
Instock, SmartCrusher, Closing the Loop, Van Werven Kunststofrecycling and SNEW pitch against each other on January 15
The finalists who will compete against each other in the battle for the Circular Award 2018 have been announced. From 140 entries, five finalists were chosen in different categories. The category winners are Instock (Biomass & Food), SmartCrusher (Construction), Closing the Loop (Consumer Goods), Van Werven (Plastics) and SNEW (Manufacturing). On January 15, they will pitch against each other in The Hague to win the Circular Award 2018. The award goes to the most iconic circular product or project that shows what circular economy can do for the Netherlands.
About the finalists
Instock puts food waste literally and figuratively on the map. In three restaurants they cook with ‘saved’ food: food that would otherwise be thrown away. Worldwide some 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted every year. Instock has already saved more than 330,000 kilos of food.
SmartCrusher can break down concrete into its three components sand, gravel and cement. This allows concrete to be used in a circular way and no new raw materials need to be tapped to make cement. The production of new concrete and cement causes huge CO2 emissions worldwide, even more than all airplanes combined.
Closing the Loop recycles end-of-life smartphones in developing countries. The company has already saved 1.9 million phones from landfill, extending the life of more than 145,000 phones. In doing so, they reduce CO2 emissions and create income for people in developing countries.
Van Werven has developed an innovative way to recycle (hard) plastics with high purity. For example, they are one of the few in the world able to turn residual plastics from demolition, construction waste and environmental sites back into a high-quality raw material. In 2017, the company processed an Arena full of plastics, saving the emission of 250,000 tons of CO2.
SNEW refurbished ICT equipment with people with a distance to the labor market. They developed a circular model in which raw materials from existing equipment can be reused. In 2017, the company gave 200,000 used products a second or sometimes even third life. SNEW also makes its knowledge available to designers to design products more circularly.
Circular Award 2018
The five finalists will pitch on January 15 between 15:00 and 17:00 at the Fokker Terminal in The Hague to win the Circular Award 2018. The most appealing pitch will be chosen on this day by both the public and the jury. The award will be presented by State Secretary Van Veldhoven of Infrastructure and Water Management.
Jury
Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Louise Vet (NIOO-KNAW) an expert jury, consisting of eight renowned experts in the field of circularity, will select the most outstanding circular initiative. Jury members include Emmo Meijer (figurehead Top Sector Chemicals), Fried Kaanen (chairman Metaalunie), and Anne-Marie Rakhorst (entrepreneur, investor and publicist in the field of sustainability).
The Circular Award is an initiative of The Netherlands Circular! and the program ‘The Netherlands Circular in 2050’ of the Dutch government. The award is presented during the start of the third Week of the Circular Economy.
