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Impact Col­lec­tive: Sus­tain­able Mate­ri­als

Impact Col­lec­tive:
Sus­tain­able Mate­ri­als

Glob­al resource con­sump­tion has more than tripled since 1970, exceed­ing 100 bil­lion tons annu­al­ly, with only 9% being recy­cled. This has sig­nif­i­cant­ly increased our eco­log­i­cal foot­print, push­ing the plan­et beyond its capac­i­ty to regen­er­ate. Embrac­ing cir­cu­lar­i­ty is cru­cial, as it pro­motes reusing, recy­cling, and reduc­ing waste, there­by pre­serv­ing resources, min­i­miz­ing envi­ron­men­tal impact, and fos­ter­ing a sus­tain­able future.

If we are all work­ing in the same direc­tion, why not doing it togeth­er?



In our col­lec­tive, we bring togeth­er cir­cu­lar­i­ty star­tups, research insti­tutes, busi­ness­es, and state actors to fos­ter inno­va­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tion. Our col­lec­tive on sus­tain­able mate­ri­als includes 8 sub-themes.

Our goal is to trans­form the way the world con­sumes and man­ages its resources by pio­neer­ing a sus­tain­able mate­ri­als rev­o­lu­tion towards a cir­cu­lar econ­o­my. Our col­lec­tive aims to:

  • Accel­er­ate the adop­tion of sus­tain­able prac­tices
  • Fos­ter col­lab­o­ra­tive inno­va­tion
  • Influ­ence pol­i­cy and cor­po­rate strat­e­gy
  • Empow­er com­mu­ni­ties and indus­tries

Learn how impact star­tups can make mate­ri­als sus­tain­able

African small­hold­er farm­ers are throw­ing away

30%

of their crops’ val­ue every har­vest sea­son as agri­cul­tur­al waste
Vis­it Web­site

Davide Marchi­sio

he/him Ven­ture Builder, Prod­uct Coach, Busi­ness Strate­gist
Read more
Inspi­ra­tion
Bolt Threads cre­at­ed a veg­an leather made out of myceli­um
every day 1,200,000,000 eggs are processed lead­ing

12000+ tons

unused resid­ual mate­r­i­al per day
Vis­it Web­site
Pro­tegg

Pro­tegg spe­cial­izes in repur­pos­ing eggshell and eggshell mem­brane resid­u­als from the egg pro­cess­ing indus­try into high-qual­i­ty, stan­dard­ized raw mate­ri­als.

Down­load Pitch Deck

Wari­di Pab­st — Schrob­s­dorff

she/her Founder & CEO of Fash­ion Africa 254, Con­trib­u­tor for Africa at Vogue Ger­many
Read more
Inspi­ra­tion
Water­proof durable mate­r­i­al derived from sus­tain­ably grown banana plant fibers

Cielo Sanabria

Senior LCA Expert and Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Ana­lyst at SAP
Read more
Inspi­ra­tion
Tex­tile-grade fibre made from waste pineap­ple leaves

Charles Oyamo

Co-Founder at Rethread Africa
Read more
Inspi­ra­tion
Bloom con­verts bio­mass to high-val­ue chem­i­cals

Noreen Mwan­cha

Co-Founder at Rethread Africa
Read more
Inspi­ra­tion
Decar­bonized mate­ri­als for a cir­cu­lar future

Vin­cent Momanyi

Lead Poly­mer Researcher at Rethread Africa
Read more
Inspi­ra­tion
Keel Labs is cre­at­ing eco-con­scious, renew­able yarns derived from a sea­weed called kelp

Nan­cy Birkhölz­er

she/her Founder, Investor, Advi­so­ry Board Mem­ber at NB Ven­tures
Read more
Inspi­ra­tion
From waste to wardrobe: trans­form­ing food waste into biodegrad­able poly­ester

Markus Johan­ning

Co-Founder and man­ag­ing direc­tor at Pro­tegg
Read more
Inspi­ra­tion
Mak­ing fash­ion cir­cu­lar by invent­ing the next gen­er­a­tion of bio­ma­te­ri­als made from agri­cul­tur­al waste.

Fabi­an Hüt­ter

Co-Founder and Head of R&D at Pro­tegg
Read more
Inspi­ra­tion
Bio­ma­te­ri­als and Emis­sion-Free Lime­stone from Eggshells

Nor­man Hiob

he/him Co-Founder & Man­ag­ing Direc­tor at Plan­ty Foods & Hiob Ven­tures
Read more
Inspi­ra­tion
How Mush­rooms Are Turned Into Bacon And Sty­ro­foam
Inspi­ra­tion
Biohm har­ness­es the pow­er of myceli­um to cre­ate con­struc­tion mate­ri­als like insu­la­tion pan­els.
Inspi­ra­tion
How Biochar Removes CO2 from the Air
Inspi­ra­tion
Car­bon removal by bury­ing bio­mass from algae farm­ing, where it remains sta­ble for thou­sands of years 
Inspi­ra­tion
Cement made from recy­cled indus­tri­al waste brine (from desali­na­tion plants)
Inspi­ra­tion
Lignin as an alter­na­tive to Bitu­men
Inspi­ra­tion
Myceli­um Insu­la­tion

If we are work­ing towards the same goals, why not togeth­er?

Become a col­lec­tive mem­ber!

We believe in the pow­er of col­lab­o­ra­tion to change sys­tems for the bet­ter. That is why we unite impact star­tups with diverse stake­hold­ers from diverse indus­tries in our col­lec­tives. Each mem­ber brings spe­cif­ic knowl­edge to the table:

  • Research insti­tutes pro­vide the col­lec­tive with sci­ence-based infor­ma­tion and up-to-date research insights and ensure that our ini­tia­tives are ground­ed in the lat­est sci­en­tif­ic knowl­edge.
  • NGOs bring in the voice of the com­mu­ni­ty and advo­cate for social and envi­ron­men­tal caus­es, ensur­ing that our projects are aligned with the needs and con­cerns of the broad­er soci­ety.
  • Gov­ern­ments pro­vide reg­u­la­to­ry frame­works and pol­i­cy guid­ance, and help us nav­i­gate legal land­scapes.
  • Busi­ness­es have the mar­ket expe­ri­ence and oper­a­tional exper­tise, and can sup­port the col­lec­tive in ensur­ing eco­nom­ic via­bil­i­ty.
  • Foun­da­tions bring vast expe­ri­ences on how to nav­i­gate dif­fer­ent stake­hold­ers that work for a joint cause, which helps us to improve our ways of col­lab­o­ra­tion in the col­lec­tive.

Your ben­e­fits as a mem­ber

  • Ven­ture Cli­ent­ing: As ear­ly cus­tomers for star­tups, part­ner orga­ni­za­tions gain access to inno­v­a­tive solu­tions. The ven­ture cap­i­tal avail­able to star­tups often exceeds the research and devel­op­ment bud­gets of estab­lished com­pa­nies. Through ven­ture cli­ent­ing, part­ner orga­ni­za­tions can lever­age this ven­ture cap­i­tal for their own ben­e­fit while quick­ly and effec­tive­ly learn­ing like a lean start­up.
  • Exchange and Net­work­ing in Online Com­mu­ni­ty: Employ­ees of the part­ner orga­ni­za­tion gain access to the online com­mu­ni­ty and can net­work and exchange ideas with experts via chat and dur­ing reg­u­lar online events.
  • Build­ing Exper­tise & Posi­tion­ing Employ­ees as Experts: Employ­ees of the part­ner orga­ni­za­tion can par­tic­i­pate in our video cours­es and mas­ter­class­es. Employ­ees of the part­ner orga­ni­za­tion who are involved in the col­lec­tive can be posi­tioned as experts.

Con­tact

For any inquiries about this impact col­lec­tive, please con­tact: jonas.​wegener@​phineo.​org

  • Organ­i­sa­tion of our reg­u­lar meet­ings
  • Sourc­ing of speak­ers for our meet­ings
  • Onboard­ing of new organ­i­sa­tions
  • Press inquiries
Jonas Wegener

Jonas Wegen­er

he/him
Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Strate­gist at PHINEO Star­tups Read more

Get in touch to join!

For star­tups
For cor­po­rates
For research insti­tu­tions
For NGOs

You need to accept func­tion­al cook­ies to use the sched­ul­ing fea­ture.

How do we work as a col­lec­tive?

Col­lec­tive Impact
Sum­mit

In May and Octo­ber of each year, our com­mu­ni­ty meets at the Col­lec­tive Impact Sum­mit in Berlin.
It includes a col­lec­tive meet­up, start­up pitch­es, expert keynotes, and a net­work­ing evening.

Bi-month­ly
online mee­tups

In a reg­u­lar for­mat we meet to grow and learn togeth­er on user group inputs, research insights, reg­u­la­to­ry changes and coop­er­a­tion expe­ri­ences.

Infor­mal exchanges


We encour­age con­ti­nous exchange with­in the col­lec­tive to share knowl­edge, find solu­tions to joint chal­lenges and learn from each oth­er.

Explore all of our col­lec­tives address­ing the poly­cri­sis

Respon­si­ble
Finance

Ensur­ing, that finan­cial
activ­i­ties con­tribute pos­i­tive­ly to
soci­ety and the envi­ron­ment

Explore

Resilient
Forests

Improv­ing for­est resilience and
enhanc­ing bio­di­ver­si­ty

Explore

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