Meet the 16 innovators that are leading the charge on circular transformation

We are at a critical point in time where the world needs urgent action for the restoration of ecosystems to preserve people, nature, and the climate. However, we are reaching the limits of growth within existing consumption models. To build a more restorative and sustainable future, it is imperative that we unlock the power of the circular economy through radical innovation and partnerships, in what remains one of the most crucial drivers of sustainable development – the circular transformation.

Led by Accenture, in collaboration with Anglo American, Ecolab and AWS, and in partnership with the World Economic Forum and UpLink, The Circulars Accelerator is accelerating the circular transformation by connecting disruptive entrepreneurs with industry leaders to scale circular innovation across the ecosystem.

By supporting leading start-ups and fostering innovative partnerships, The Circulars Accelerator empowers and enables companies to move from insight to action-focused collaboration to reinvent business at scale and redesign entire value chains.

So far, the programme has made a number of meaningful advisory and commercial connections between innovators and the broader circular ecosystem, and this year will be the third iteration of the program. The 2023 cohort of 16 innovators was selected from over 350 applications and went through a highly competitive and rigorous evaluation process. Throughout the next six months, The Circulars Accelerator programme will provide these innovators with targeted business support and expert mentorship from industry leaders and circular experts to overcome key challenges, scale their circular solutions and impact, and re-think their value propositions.

Meet the 16 innovators from The Circulars Accelerator 2023, who are leading the charge on circular transformation.

374Water’s AirSCWO technology is a decentralized solution for treating and recovering resources from a broad range of organic waste feedstocks. Their solution takes organic waste through a supercritical water oxidation process that destroys all organics and hazardous chemicals, and the output water, minerals and energy can be sold for a variety of use cases.

AmorSui develops medical-grade, fully recyclable fabrics used to make sustainable Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), providing an alternative that can be spun back into other textile applications at the end of life. AmorSui has also developed an app for consumers to track the usage and washing of products.

Below Farm specializes in end-to-end mushroom cultivation solutions for arid climates in a waste-to- resource model by leveraging mycelium and desert cultivation technologies, as well as an indoor vertical indoor farming technique.

CIRT’s data-driven platform connects producers to the world’s first proprietary database of waste sheds, materials, and products so that retailers and large companies can make more informed packaging decisions based on what materials are most recoverable across their network.

EnviCore has developed a process that repurposes waste minerals from diverse mining operations into supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) for use in the construction sector. This process transforms waste streams with negative economic value into a source of high-margin products.

Eco Panplas has developed a technological recycling process for plastic packaging of post-consumer lubricating oil that does not generate waste or water and creates value for contaminated plastics that previously did not have a recycling solution. The result is a high-quality, recycled raw material sold to make new oil packaging.

Evolectric develops and deploys modular software and hardware that renews the life of existing commercial vehicles by transforming them into 100% electric. Evolectric also leverages analytics and machine learning to provide fleet intelligence, predictive analytics, and maintenance services.

GreenJams produces modular blocks of Agrocrete, a low-resource and carbon-negative building material made from crop residues like rice straw, bagasse, cotton stalks, and by-products of steel and power industries.

GreenPod Labs has developed “sachets” of active ingredients that can significantly slow the ripening process and extend the useful life when added to crates of harvested fruits and vegetables, reducing food waste. This is done by activating the defence mechanisms of the produce.

LimeLoop offers a smart shipping platform that combines reusable packaging with an IoT device to track deliveries and reverse logistics. The B2B service uses IoT devices to monitor temperature and delivery time, while their B2C service is a returnable mailbag that can be used hundreds of times and incorporates a simple return process.

Machine Compare is an e-commerce platform that enables industrial manufacturers to trade a variety of new, refurbished, and surplus parts (i.e., electrical, mechanical, etc.) through a ML-backed peer-to-peer marketplace. This avoids unnecessary parts being landfilled and enables products reuse.

MamaToto Cloth Diapers provides modern cloth diapers and laundering services with delivery across Nairobi, Kenya. MamaToto uses 100% East African cotton in their diapers and partners with a local non-profit to employ women to sew their diaper accessories. Their end-to-end solution aims to reduce both the cost and waste associated with single-use diapers.

Mandulis Energy offers crop processing services to farmers and procures agricultural waste that would have otherwise been burned. They then leverage biomass gasification processes to generate off-grid electricity from agricultural waste. By-products of this process are incorporated into alternative energy briquettes and sustainable fertilizers.

PadCare is a patented smart technology solution converting used menstrual hygiene products into by-products for various industries. It is the world’s first menstrual waste disposal service providing installed collection points, a reverse logistics system for collection, processing and recycling, and the production of secondary raw material.

Rebundle revolutionizes hair extensions by providing Braidbetter, a plant-based, US-made, safe, and comfortable alternative that is better for the scalp and the environment. Rebundle also collects plastic synthetic hair, which is downcycled into inputs for other consumer products.

Re-Fresh Global is pioneering a new approach to textile waste through an end-to-end and local microfactory system, where large volumes of low-value textile waste undergo an innovative conversion into high-value raw materials for a broad spectrum of industrial use.

Learn more about the 16 innovators in this special live session, broadcast from our studio in Geneva.