Many of the fourteen startups that participated in the fourth batch of the Circular Economy Accelerator program, traveled to Germany from all over the world, including from Palestine, Singapore, the US and Kenya. The fourteen companies are engaged in water treatment, waste management, platform solutions, green building, or renewable energies. As the following overview shows, their ideas have the potential to avoid CO2 or waste in the order of billions of tons:

"When you work with so many startups and partners, your own ideas will begin to emerge sooner or later," said Dr. Carsten Gerhardt, initiator of Circular Valley®, at the DemoDay. At the end of the event, Gerhardt was not on stage to introduce another young founder, but to present one of the initiative's own business ideas. The idea he presented is called Circular Valley® Delivery and is intended to bring about an important upheaval in the last mile delivery system.

Currently, the transportation that characterizes cities faces two problems: First, the last mile is deregulated, meaning all providers deliver directly to the customer. Second, most of these providers exclusively bring things, but take nothing back with them. This creates waste, a lot of which ends up being incinerated. If consumers want to dispose of the packaging properly, they have to drive to various different containers and collection points. This is anything but efficient.

That's why Circular Valley® Delivery aims to be a last-mile delivery service for everyone that also takes back material to prepare it for recycling as cleanly as possible. In addition, the employees could provide additional services, for instance, transporting people. In short, this delivery service can do more, while having much fewer empty runs.

Gerhardt explained to the DemoDay audience these five prerequisites:

"These are the ideas we now want to discuss," said Carsten Gerhardt - a topic that will certainly be discussed further at the next DemoDay.

Startups that Circular Valley® invites to its accelerator use their time in Germany's extended Rhine-Ruhr region for two things primarily: they advance their business models further with top-class mentors and coaches and through exchanges and discussions among themselves. The second core focus during their time in Germany is that they meet partners from the large Circular Valley® network - in personal conversations, plenary discussion formats and on-site at the companies.

These on-site visits are highlights for both sides. The startups get to see real-world practice on a large scale and get a chance to understand where their ideas could best fit in and support established companies. The established companies, in turn, obtain fresh ideas and an unbiased perspective on their day-to-day operation.

The 14 startups from the current accelerator program visited the following destinations:

The Lhoist Group is a global leader in the production of limestone and other minerals. The company's headquarters are in Belgium and its German headquarters are in Wülfrath. At the nearby site in Wuppertal-Dornap, the Circular-Valley® startups were able to watch the mining of limestone and trace the following production steps. The preparation of the stone consists of pre- and post-shredding. Sieving is then used to separate the stone into the appropriate grain sizes. During their visit, the startups also discovered an impressive board, on which Lhoist displays the numerous applications of limestone. The board consisted of 16 pictures on the board, each representative of an industrial sector, ranging from metal production over rail transport to e-mobility.

For the experts visiting from all around the world, the visit to Lhoist was associated with another important insight, related to renaturation. Where Lhoist no longer mines, the area is returned to nature. Through the renaturation process, biodiversity in these areas is typically higher than before the mining began.

The Bergkamen Supply Center is Bayer AG's largest site for the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients. At this site, more than 1,600 employees produce steroid hormones, contrast media and intermediates of highest purity. The focus of the excursion of the circular startups was the company's strategy for sustainability and the Circular Economy - in intensive discussions and in a very practical way: Stations on the site included the company's own power plant and water treatment facility. Bayer purifies the wastewater, filters out most of the chemicals and reuses substantial quantities of it.

Just as the startups asked numerous questions, Bayer representatives also wanted to know a lot from their guests: How can startups be supported most suitably? What needs do they have? What points of contact do they need? - these were some of the topics discussed during the visit. A nice discovery on the side: On the Bayer premises, a container of the Circular Valley® startup Circularity collects work clothes in order to recycle the textiles.

The shortest "journey" to a company involved a visit to Vorwerk. The accelerator is located in a Vorwerk building and so the production facilities were within walking distance. Vorwerk, one of Circular Valley®'s earliest partners, provided the international guests an insight into its entire production - and into the company's philosophy: Vorwerk attaches great importance to the durability of its products. It thereby makes an important contribution to sustainability in times when a throwaway culture still prevails in most cases for electronic devices.

In terms of sustainability, Vorwerk pursues three major goals: fewer emissions, a sustainable supply chain and a good work-life balance. Since July last year, the group has been climate neutral in terms of its own CO2 emissions. The company continuously reduced its emissions and offsets the remaining amount. By 2025, the company expects to generate two-thirds less emissions, compared to 2016-levels. With respect to achieving a more sustainable supply chain, internal structures are being further developed and the awareness for greater sustainability is promoted in up-stream firms as well.

Emission avoidance of a different kind was the topic of a room at Vorwerk that impressed the startups particularly: the sound lab is shielded from all environmental noise. In this great silence, the company measures whether a machine is too loud or too quiet.

Knipex, an international pliers manufacturer, demonstrated some of the challenges related to transitioning to a circular economy. Knipex' metal pliers have plastic handles, which, for safety and durability reasons, need to be attached to the pliers as long and as tightly as possible. How these pliers and handles can be kept in circulation, nonetheless, was one of the conversation topics during the visit.

The international guests also learned how Knipex implements its sustainability strategy. Energy efficiency and resource efficiency are systematically increased through a wide range of organizational measures and investments. Self-generated solar power supplies, among other things, the company's own 13 electric vehicle charging points. Moreover, Knipex is a pilot partner for the first wind turbine designed to generate electricity from gusty winds. In cooperation with Circular Valley® startup Plastic Fischer, Knipex helps to remove plastics from rivers, and it runs an extensive project to increase biodiversity on its eight-hectare company site.

The visit to the waste-to-energy plant operated by Abfallwirtschaftsgesellschaft Wuppertal (AWG) focused on the last point of the value chain, which can, however, also be seen as the first. At first, a waste-to-energy-plant may sound like the opposite of a circular economy. But the thermal treatment of waste is very much a part of it, as the startups learned. For instance, in addition to electricity and district heating, AWG also produces hydrogen, which enables public buses in Wuppertal to travel with virtually zero emissions. Thanks to the district heating supply from the plant, a Wuppertal coal-fired power plant was phased-out in 2018. The environment is thus spared several 100,000 tons of CO2 every year.

As the excursion showed, AWG also takes care of what remains after the thermal treatment of the waste - the slag. Slag is a valuable residue, as it contains up to ten percent secondary raw materials such as iron, copper and aluminum. Every year, around 12,000 tons of metals are extracted from the slag and re-introduced into the various value chains. This way, AWG conserves primary resources, energy consumption and the climate.

One of the trips took the participants of the fourth batch to a company that had participated in the third batch of the accelerator program: Carboliq in Ennigerloh. In Ennigerloh, Caboliq's recycling plant liquefies solid hydrocarbons. Since the group of startups visiting the site included experts in plastic recycling, great discussions at eye-level with Carboliq Managing Director Christian Haupts took place. This provided new ideas and perspectives for both sides.

The second topic discussed during the visit: the issue of raw materials. In a way, waste is Carboliq's raw material because it is turned back into recyclables that others can then use as the basis for their products. This is one important contribution to a circular economy, not only because demand for plastics will continue to grow, but also because 50 percent of all polymer waste is currently incinerated. Consequently, this field trip also highlighted the importance of collecting as purely as possible.

The great importance of greening the environment, which was also a topic at Lhosit and Knipex, was explored in great depth by the Circular Valley® startups at Leonhards. Among other things, the family-owned company specializes in facade and roof greening. In Düsseldorf, it planted eight kilometers of hornbeam hedges on the step-like facade of the so-called Kö-Bogen II. The benefit of this: the facade would otherwise heat up to 70 degrees Celsius when exposed to sunlight, however, the hedge prevents this by acting as a heat buffer for the urban climate.

Since water treatment is one of the main topics in the current batch, the startups also discussed irrigation-related matters with the representatives of Leonhards.

And so another circle was closed during the excursions.

Under the supervision of Prof. Erica von Moeller and Sandeep Mehta, students of the "Design Audiovisual Media" course at the University of Wuppertal have produced short, easy-to-understand animated explanatory videos on the circular economy. They have done so in cooperation with Circular Economy Accelerator GmbH. The videos address important questions: What is circular economy? How does it differ from a linear economy and why does the latter have no future? What is being done in Circular Valley® and what is the Circular Economy Accelerator? What is an Accelerator program and what makes this program so special? Why is the Rhine-Ruhr region the ideal location for Circular Valley®?

The premiere of the films took place at the Demo Day in the Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal. Also involved in the film project were Academic Councilor Till Müller, Tabea Mittlebach, Leonie Sonntag, Julia Kaminska, Kevin Ramos Pinhao and Susanna Cuda.

The videos are now available on Youtube in the Circular Valley® channel:

Bioweg has developed "Micbead" as a biodegradable alternative. Moreover, the young entrepreneurs are replacing the previously common seed and fertilizer coatings made from petroleum and acrylic with their "Agriweg" product. Thanks to the new cooperation, such bio-ingredients can now be produced on a large scale and at competitive costs.

Deutsche Leasing is a company founded by around 350 Sparkassen (savings banks) to offer manufacturer-independent leasing opportunities. The company, headquartered in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, is deeply involved in all issues relating to the future and sustainability of mobility.

Accuride is a market-leading manufacturer and supplier of wheels as well as wheel-end components for the global commercial vehicle markets. The Solingen-based company is in the process of transforming towards more circular supply chains and logistics.

At EMKA, environmental protection and the cautious use of natural resources are part of the fundamental corporate philosophy. In the four business units Industry, Transport, Electronics and Production, this philosophy is an integral part of planning and implementation.

Although they come from different areas of business and society, our partners have one thing in common: the goal of becoming more circular. They are convinced that this journey is not just a necessity, but also brings great opportunities. However, many of them encounter similar challenges along the way. And some may have already overcome them. That's why we launched Partner Talk, a periodic series of meetings tailored specifically for representatives of our partner companies and institutions. It provides an environment for them to openly discuss problems and share solutions in a confidential setting. Here, people mutually encourage, educate and motivate each other with fruitful perspectives from other industries.

During the last partner talk, Holger Bramsiepe from GENERATIONDESIGN gave a presentation on the topic of Design for Circularity, because:

The 26 students from Spain and Germany devoted themselves to the topic of sustainability and, more specifically, to the circular economy.

In the workshops organized and given by Circular Valley®, young people learn about the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and discuss how these can be achieved. The studens explore the solutions that Circular-Valley® startups have developed and simulate the founding of their own circular business. If you would like to offer a workshop on the topic of circular economy in your school, please feel free to contact the Circular Valley® team.

Please reach out to Leonie Happe for this:

Anyone who sees one of the buses learns something about their region: "#Home of the Circular Economy" is written next to the logo. A large QR code invites you to learn even more.

Rheingold-Reisen-Wuppertal mainly operates in the Rhine-Ruhr and the Bergisches Land region. The traditional company was already driving people to the Rhine on weekends for excursions in 1929. Today, the company offers its service for tourism, occasional transport, schools, rail replacement transport and public transport. The fleet includes more than 100 busses. All of the company's own vehicles have environmentally friendly Euro 6 engines and some are equipped with hybrid mode.

Plastic pollution and ways to combat it was a hot topic at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos. While being a highly versatile material, consumer packaging plastics pose a huge challenge when ending up in the environment; especially in the developing countries. More than 50 million tons are landfilled, reach the aquatic systems or are openly dumped every year. All over the world millions of waste pickers in the informal sector try to make a living by collecting and sorting household plastic. This is done under precarious working conditions with barely an opportunity to move out of poverty.

At the World Economic Forum, Jan Jambon, Prime Minister of Flanders, Ved Prakash, Director of the Indian company Gemini, and Carsten Gerhardt, CEO of the Circular Valley® Foundation, agreed to tackle these challenges together. They want to make the all-important collection of plastic in developing countries worthwhile in two ways.

Gemini is working hard to build a plastic ecosystem with fair prices and conditions. The company is focused on increasing the efficiency of logistics, on providing funding and on training employees appropriately. Accordingly, it has defined its goals for 2025: recycle 50,000 tons of plastic and provide a living wage for thousands of collectors. The first specific steps of the now agreed cooperation ties in well with this: the opportunities and goals are to grow further, including with the help of development agencies and the Circular Valley® partners.

As ambitious as the project's goals are, as diverse are its target groups: It is the companies that want to jointly develop and implement solutions. In addition, there are the chambers and associations that promote the philosophy and possibilities of the approach, and of course the energy suppliers as well as public administrations and committed private individuals.

For all of them, the project will now, as a first step, determine the state of knowledge and technology relating to batteries and make it transparent. This will equally reveal the relevant players and the gaps in the cycle, which will then be addressed further. One thing is then needed: a good way to bring the players together. Fortunately, this is also one of the strengths that Circular Valley® brings to the project.