Italy
Beeing
Beeing is a company founded by Roberto Pasi and Gabriele Garavini, two young entrepreneurs with a passion for bees. Their mission is to develop innovative tools that simplify the activities of those who care for bees. In 2019 the launch of B-BOX, the first urban bee-hive that, with crowdfunding alone, conquered more than 450 users in over 40 countries around the world, a real revolution for the concept of beekeeping. The projects have then expanded: bio-monitoring of air quality through bees, the development of smart urban apiaries and educational activities on the theme of bees and the creation of a program for the adoption of beehives at a distance. The Beeing community now counts hundreds of urban beekeepers and professional beekeepers with one thing in common: a deep love and respect for bees and nature. https://beeing.it/en
Treedom
Treedom is the first platform that allows you to plant a tree from a distance and follow the story of the project online. Since its foundation in 2010 in Florence, more than 3.000.000 trees have been planted in Africa, South America and Italy. All trees are planted directly by local farmers and bring environmental, social and financial benefits to their communities. Thanks to its business model, in 2014 Treedom became part of the Certified B Corporations, a network of companies that stand out for high environmental and social performance.
Treedom directly finances agroforestry projects throughout the territory. The philosophy is to realize sustainable ecosystems and allow thousands of farmers to support the initial costs of planting new trees, ensuring food autonomy and income opportunities over time. https://www.treedom.net/
Circularity
Circularity is an innovative startup and benefit company dedicated to the circular economy, founded in Milan in 2018 by Camilla Colucci and Alessandra Fornasiero. The company has developed the first platform in Italy that allows companies to recycle and reuse their production waste in the production cycles of the companies that generated it or in those of third parties. The mission is to promote a new type of company that can combine economic profit with the protection of the environment and the society in which it operates, offering innovative services to companies, guiding them towards optimisation and reduction of resource consumption.https://circularity.com/en/
Secondhand
Secondhand mobile was born in 2018 in Genoa from the initiative of Marco Langella and Luca Matteoni, it deals with distributing used and refurbished electronic devices, extending their useful life. The aim is to open the doors of the second-hand market to partners, a market that has been growing steadily for 10 years and represents an increasingly important niche in the international scenario of the sector https://secondhandmobile.it/
Squiseat
Founded in 2019 by Luca Morosini, Alberto Drusiani and Osama Gana, Squiseat was created to combat food waste. The company has developed an app that allows you to order and pick up at half price the food left on the premises at the end of the day, guaranteeing a great dinner at a great cost. Not only that, by paying full price you can book what you want in advance and, in this way, let the restaurant know the exact amount of food it will have to prepare for pick-up the next day https://www.squiseat.it/
North Macedonia
Good Earth Cooperative is a 2015 regional Macedonian winner of the Balkan Green Ideas. It is a cooperative business owned by its members, friends and neighbors and offer nutritious foods and other products for the lowest feasible prices to promote healthful lifestyles, cooperation among food producers and consumers, and environmental quality. It features a produce department with organic, fair-trade, and seasonally local products. They have expanded to cooked food: daily soups and entrée bar. https://goodearthfoodcoop.coop/
Challenger is a Macedonian startup that developed a free mobile app with the aim to reduce CO2 emissions and bring positive change in the society by rewarding users for every green mile - spend on foot or by bike. It develops challenges and rewards winners with a direct award from local business partners. It can be found in the Google Store. https://challenger.mk/
Vega Solar is a German-Albanian renewable energy company focused on the photovoltaic sector with the aim to accelerate the process of integrating photovoltaic systems into the lives of Albanian families and businesses. The company offers a wide range of products, such as panels, batteries, inverters, and structural components. https://vegasolar.al/?lang=en
Hydrogrid is an Austrian energy company specialized in the optimal dispatch and commercialisation of flexible, renewable power generators. It offers an automated IoT software for the optimal, real-time planning & dispatch of hydropower plants. HYDROGRID innovative machine learning algorithms and meteorological parameters allow them to create an intelligent inflow forecast for hydropower plants aligned to the SDG goals. https://hydrogrid.eu/
Enervalis is a Belgian platform that provides green energy solutions for electric vehicles, microgrids, and buildings. It was established in 2013 with the mission to play a key role in Energy Transition. From the start, Enervalis believed that IOT and Artificial Intelligence (AI) through self-learning algorithms, would be the answer to the mass adoption of “green” consumption in the energy marketplace. It can predict future demands and supply of energy by using weather forecasting, big data, AI, and input from users. The software observes available energy sources and distributes them to customers based on predictions. https://enervalis.com/
Serbia
NewPen makes graphite pencils, and crayons from recycled newsprint. The company NewPen DOO was founded in 2018 in Smederevska Palanka, Serbia, with the aim of offering something new to the market pencils and crayons. Their products, graphite pencils and crayons made from recycled newsprint, aim to protect the environment in many ways. The use of recycled paper instead of wood, non-toxic materials, minimal energy consumption, and predominant manual work in production clearly indicates the company's orientation towards environmental protection.
All these environmentally friendly factors are accompanied by the excellent quality of the graphite found in the pens. NewPen, as the only company in Europe that produces such pencils and crayons, wants to increase people's awareness of the importance of preserving nature. They started production in 2019, and the biggest problem they encountered was the procurement of glue used in production. They were looking for a glue that was made according to health standards, which is not toxic for use or production, but also that the pencil has good quality and strength, but also soft enough to cut easily. They also had a problem finding a company that could supply such glue in sufficient quantities. When they packed all the necessary raw materials and adjusted and set up the machines to work with those raw materials, and that the work was according to all ecological standards, they realized that it would be a small volume of production, but they continued with their work and are satisfied with their business today. https://newpen.rs/about-us/
Andramolje is an ecological and educational toy that supports children's free play - play without instructions and predefined outcomes. The four-member female team was united by the desire to provide children with a meaningful, healthy, and motivating environment. To get to the point where they are now, they crossed a path where they had to overcome numerous obstacles - obtaining safety certificates, optimizing production, and establishing a price that will be competitive in a market full of cheap plastic toys.
They knew they didn't want to make toys out of plastic because they were aware that 90 percent of toys in the world are made of plastic. They also knew that the average lifespan of a toy is about 6 months, after which they end up in landfills and only a small part is recycled. They strove for every raw material they use in their work to be ecological and/or not pollute the environment. They use plywood glued with ecological adhesives, created from wood cut from sustainable forests, ecological wax-based coating, and ecological write-and-erase paint for blackboards, 100 percent cotton wool with OEKO-TEX certification. They use recycled cardboard for packaging. The use of materials that have already been used, such as textiles or other waste, was unfortunately out of the question because they wanted the toys to be completely safe for children and not endanger their health in any way. This is one of the reasons why they chose natural materials, and in addition, natural materials enrich children's senses and connect them with nature.
Plans for the future are to obtain a CE certificate so that they can export toys to the European Union and one day establish their own production process in which they will employ people with disabilities. Because they believe in business ideas that are based on the principles of sustainable development and solidary entrepreneurship. https://cirkularnaekonomija.org/za-detinjstvo-bez-plastike-igracke-andramolje-osvajaju-srbiju-sledeci-korak-eu/
Herba Lab is a small family company founded in January 2020, out of a spontaneous desire to make a concrete product that can help people out with something they are otherwise engaged in scientific research. This is how marigold cream, their first product, was born out of research work and a hobby. The company is made up of three young people who are doctors of chemical sciences at the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Kragujevac.
Their "HERBAL LABORATORY" makes cosmetic products made from the maximum percentage of ingredients of natural origin. By carefully selecting plant oils, macerates, plant extracts, essential oils, and other ingredients of natural origin, they created a series of products for face, body, and hair care. The products are handmade, in small batches, always fresh, without sulfates, parabens, silicones, artificial colors and fragrances, and synthetic preservatives. All raw materials are from renewable sources, they do not use raw materials that are oil derivatives and are used in cosmetic production.
The medicinal plants they use in the production were harvested on their own properties where their parents work and grow medicinal plants. The production facility is small and they use water from their own well, which they purify for their own needs, and they plan to produce their own electricity, but they need additional investments, which they expect to be able to achieve from the support funds. There is no waste in this production, and the resulting waste water is not a problem because all the ingredients are natural and biodegradable. The packaging they use is mainly made of natural biodegradable materials and they use Eco design, which means that the design of the packaging is adapted to reuse and can be used for other purposes. https://herbalab.rs/o-nama/
Romania
Nod Verde (Green Knot) brands itself as the first food hub in northern Transylvania. A food hub is a platform that collects, stores and distributes products that are locally grown to local consumers. Nod Verde purposes to connect urban consumers in the Cluj Metropolitain area to the rural fruit and vegetable growers and farmers. The ‚knot’ in their name stands for the interconnectedness of the world of modern consumers and that of the traditional village.
Busy city folk can shop for over 300 locally produced foods on the platform: https://nodverde.ro/, which are then delivered in an ecofriendly cardboard box. Small and medium farmers do not have the capacity to produce enough to sell in hypermarkets and find it difficult to access larger markets. The direct connection with consumers ensured by a food hub makes small and medium farms more sustainable.
Made in Pata Rât is a social economy enterprise funded by the Dutch organization Zody in the Roma community that lives on the outskirts of the municipal waste dump near Cluj-Napoca. A wave of racially motivated evictions, combined with the economical attraction of the garbage dump for waste pickers, has led to the development of a large Roma community in the unwholesome environment of the dump, compounding racial, social and ecological injustices. Made in Pata Rât started out as a carpentry and tailoring workshop offered to the teenagers in the community and became an outstanding example of creative upcycling. Teenagers turn reclaimed wood and waste from the dump into funky, artsy interior decor objects or into unique pieces of furniture. They also work on donation-based commissions, if customers approach them to give a new life to an old object or furniture item. Made in Pata Rât is a model of green business which combines vocational training with upcycling. On the one hand, it supports marginalized Roma youth to obtain sought-after qualifications and it capitalizes on the ‚wealth’ of resources offered by the garbage dump. You can admire their creative aesthetic here:
https://www.facebook.com/madeinpatarat/
Recolamp is an enterprise specialized in collecting and recycling light bulbs and other light fixtures. Light bulbs should not be discarded with regular waste, because they contribute to mercury pollution of soil and underground waters. Recolamp contributes to the circular economy by striking up partnerships with suppliers of illumination systems, ensuring the recycling of illumination sources at the end of their life cycle. Since 2019, Recolamp extended its operations to recycle household appliances, mobile phones, ACs and others. Specialized recycling is an up-and-coming market filled with opportunities. For more information, consult their website:
Made in Roșia Montană is a social economy enterprise that developed on the site of a former gold mining village. Massive street protests in several cities in Romania managed to put a stop to a gold mining development initiative in Roșia Montană that posed serious cyanide pollution risks. It started out as a way of providing alternative sustainable employment to the people in the small mining city via an e-commerce platform where people could purchase handknit items made from merino wool by the women living in the small mining village. The social enterprise took off, benefiting from the wave of public awareness generated by the anti-mining street protests and is now doing very well in international markets thanks to a Deutsche Welle article that covered it. https://ro.madeinrosiamontana.com/?shpxid=35010cad-8ac5-4bb2-badf-84f6ba5e84ec
Spain
Gravity Wave ima petoro članova start-up iz Alisantea, Španija posvećena čišćenju Sredozemnog mora od napuštenih ribarskih mreža i plastike, koja čini skoro 50% otpada u moru. Počelo je nakon što su osnivači shvatili količinu plastike koja zagađuje mora tokom boravka u Aziji. 2019. godine su odlučili da počnu zeleni projekat za generisanje promena i borbu protiv zagađenja okeana. Gravity Wave sarađuje sa drugim kompanijama tako što čisti okean u njihovo ime. Danas je sarađivala sa 80 različitih kompanija iz Španije i inostranstva, kao što su Flying Tiger Copenhagen, Blue Banana ili Red Bull. Sledi politika bez otpada, kompanija kreira nameštaj, znakove i druge proizvode od morskog plastika i ribarskih mreža. Ova aktivnost je moguća zahvaljujući njihovom partnerstvu sa Enaleia, mrežom grčkih ribara koji sakupljaju plastiku iz mora; i CM Plastikom, koji sarađuje u proizvodnji recikliranih materijala. Za više informacija: https://www.thegravitywave.com
eCoDeliver is a package delivery company that follows the same principle as ride-sharing initiatives. Instead of using delivery trucks to transport the merchandise, it provides the opportunity for car users to sign up in their app, indicate the origin and destination of any trip and use the free space in their car to pick up packages in their origin city and deliver them in the ecoDeliver warehouses in the destination city. Then, the packages are delivered around the city by the company’s fleet of electric vehicles. By using this method, carbon emissions and other transport-related pollution are reduced, and app users obtain a payment that helps covering their travel costs. The company is currently in its late stage of development, after being presented in in the 2019 Demo Day hosted by CaixaBank for the winners of imaginePlanet Challenge to present their projects to potential investors. The founders of eCoDeliver are three Spanish university students between 20 or 23 years old with a vision to reduce emissions related to online shopping. For more information: https://www.ecodeliver.es/particular#inicio
Oscillum is a company from Alicante, founded in 2019. It has created a unique tag that, in contact with food, it gradually changes color to indicate the state of it: yellow when it is fresh and deep blue when it is spoiled and should not be eaten. This tag is functioning as long as it is in contact with the product, regardless whether it is still in its original packaging. It was created as a method to prevent both food waste and food poisoning. Regarding food waste, it is estimated that a third of global food production is thrown away, and a good amount is discarded in households based on its smell or look, even if it is still in good condition. All of this produces great waste and emissions. By using these tags, Oscillum contributes to reducing waste and emissions by allowing consumers and producers to monitor the quality and state of the food.
For more information: https://www.oscillum.com/
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