Three winners LWV award circularity

Sonja Demandt has to swallow her disappointment, this Friday evening, March 15, in the Malietoren in The Hague. The Limburg entries for the national Circular Awards 2024 fell just short of the prizes. "They had so deserved it," says the expert manager of Sustainability at the LWV, who two days earlier was allowed to send three Limburg winners, and thus finalists, to The Hague. "From the other side: this competition is about sustainability and circularity. All participants are working towards that circular future, towards a world without waste. That's what we created this award for. They are all winners."

Stage

This is how Zsofia Kollar sees it. She won the Limburg award in the Circular Startup category with the Human Material Loop she founded. "Great to win such a prize of 3,000 euros," says the entrepreneur who traded Amsterdam for Geleen a few years ago. "Always welcome as we want to scale up to actual production this year. Even more important is the attention and stage, both during the Limburg finals at the Brightlands Campus and in The Hague. We have been seen by potential investors, doors of networks are opening. Of course we would have liked to have won the national final, but much more is about this transition to circular raw materials. Human hair is excellent for turning it into fabric. Wonderful right, now it's being burned."

Support

The Limburg Circular Innovation Top 20 is part of the Week of the Circular Economy, held for the first time in 2021. Back then, the corona pandemic was a game-changer, but this time there were more than 20 entries. "A nice number," said Sonja Demandt. "It shows that the business community is concerned with circularity. We want a circular economy in which all new products and stuff can be reused later. That means quite a lot for both large companies and SMEs. As an employers' organization, we want to offer as much support as possible. Stimulating and supporting entrepreneurs is much needed in that context. We bring entrepreneurs together. Such an award has a stimulating effect. Entrepreneurs see concrete applications, tell what they encounter and how they take steps."

In the fall, entrepreneurs will be able to apply again for the 2025 edition.

The Limburg winners: Human Material Loop, Ekowood and the Glass App in the Circular Community category.

Source: Chapeau Magazine