The Palestinian startup helps olive farms and mills worldwide. Globally, this agricultural sector produces around 30 million cubic meters of wastewater annually. Colea AgriTech has developed a technology to treat this water so that it can be reused. Employing this technology allows olive producers operate more circularly and profitably.

Photo: Thaer Thafesh

The founders from Munich, Germany, have enabled a major step forward for capturing very small particles. Until now, removing microparticles from water has not only required a great amount of energy, but many filter systems also have weaknesses. CyFract sets water in rotation, thereby separating the tiny particles and requiring a lot less energy.

Photo: Tayyar Bayrakci

The Dutch startup uses nature to produce drinking water from the sea. The founders have developed the world's first solar thermal solution for desalination. The power of the sun ensures that fresh water is available on a large scale - and that it is also produced sustainably.

Photo: Marc Alexander Schwarze and Nick Heinemann

Bio-Recycler's The idea that the Kenyan startup is pursuing, is not only a great opportunity for its home country, but also beyond. Due to massive environmental and water pollution in Kenya, clean drinking water is rare. To this end, Bio-Recycler recycles and treats wastewater - currently at already 13,200 liters per day.

Photo: Calvince Okello

The focus of the startup from Singapore is the treatment of industrial wastewater. Thanks to its technology, only a fraction of the current amount of chemicals used is required, reducing their demand by 80 percent. At the same time, 40 percent more water has been saved. A nice side effect for the companies is that wastewater treatment costs fall by around 30 percent. Hydroleap has already attracted a lot of attention in Asia, and now the technology is coming to Europe - with the help of Circular Valley®.

Photo: Lakshmi Jothinathan, Preneshan Reddy

The French startup uses artificial intelligence to enable a true circular economy. The technology analyzes waste in real time as it moves down the assembly line, giving an accurate overview of what recyclables it contains. This makes waste management more transparent, efficient and traceable. Lixo's solution is therefore of interest to many players along the recyclables value chain, such as disposal companies, sorters and recyclers. While the young company has already won major partners such as Suez and Veolia, it now wants to grow internationally in the next step.

Photo: Marjorie Darcet

For the founders from Essen, Germany, a bitter figure and the image of shipping containers formed the beginning of their idea. The bitter figure: every fourth tree is felled for packaging. This wouldn't have to be the case if packaging from online retail were stored in containers that could be reused over and over. And this is exactly what Rhinopaq's boxes and envelopes made of recycled polypropylene do: They replace disposable packaging when shipping tools, personal care products, cleaning products, coffee, toys and pet food, for example.

Photo: Matthias Thesing (left) und Marc Diefenbach

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Photo: Dr. Carsten Gerhardt

The Indian startup uses industrial waste and disposed plastic to make its products. For instance, industrial slag, fly ash and metal waste are used to create new bricks, cobblestones, tiles, planters, benches, and curbstones. A RecycleX "Fly Ash Brick" contains no natural resources and avoids one kilogram of CO2. The founders' solution is therefore twofold: no waste is produced because materials remain in the cycle. At the same time, the need for cement is significantly reduced, and with it the impact on the climate. RecycleX is relevant to a wide range of potential partners, ranging from waste collectors, industry to the construction sector. RecycleX's solution is particularly interesting for booming regions, whose population and thereby built environment is expected to grow significantly.

Photo: Abhishek Chhazed

The Austrian and Czech founders have launched Europe's largest online waste platform – with more than 18.000 registered companies in 11 countries. Cyrkl offers three services: a free-of-charge marketplace that customers can use independently. For more complex cases, the startup offers its customers a fee-based consulting, to support them throughout the process. Cyrkl's consulting activities are even more intensive in the third field of activity, which deals with strategic and structural solutions. Here, waste is analyzed and suggestions are made for the most suitable ways of dealing with it.

Photo: David Mattersdorfer (left) und Cyril Klepek

The French startup is an expert in plastic recycling. The startup began by researching the pain points and weaknesses in the procurement process and then developed their global marketplace for high-quality recycled plastic. Trading on its marketplace should be as easy as possible for both sides. Quality and trust are paramount for Mika Cycle to enable the progress they hope to make. Transparent supply chains are an important building block in this. The goal: Where plastic cannot be avoided, as much of it as possible should remain in the cycle. To this end, the company wants to standardize recycling processes and make them more productive.

Photo: Scott Brooks

The German startup from Heidelberg uses its slogan to explain what change is associated with the platform: "Turning waste to value". In other words, the waste materials that companies previously had to pay for to dispose of, suddenly become a new revenue stream. Clickwaste offers its services for a wide range of materials – in the same way that individual consumers are familiar with from online marketplaces.

Photo: Dr. Daniel Vuynovich

The US startup develops water electrolysis systems for hydrogen production with renewable energy. While hydrogen is currently mainly produced using methane and coal, 1s1 Energy is working on truly green hydrogen. This plays a key role in decarbonization efforts, especially in the industrial, chemical and long-distance transportation sector. The 1s1 systems are said to be about 30 percent cheaper than comparable water electrolysis systems on the market.

Photo: Daniel Sobek

The Italian founders have developed a method to replace current ethanol production methods. 95 percent of the world's ethanol originates from agriculture. The consequences: high emissions, soil erosion, loss of biodiversity and enormous water consumption. The solution: CO2NVERT takes CO2 that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere and combines it with green hydrogen to create sustainable ethanol. This is the first of a whole series of chemical products that the Italians want to produce green.

Photo: Paolo Licata (right)