Kicking off its third edition, submissions for the Uruguay Circular Award are now open until August 16. The annual awards recognize the efforts of enterprises, institutions, associations and cooperatives that showcase a circular economy transformation. The award ceremony will be held on October 27, 2021 and all details will be published on the Uruguay Circular website.
The Uruguay Circular 2021 programme is an initiative organized by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining, the Ministry of Environment, the National Development Agency, PAGE Uruguay and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, with the support of the Swiss Embassy in Uruguay, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), GEF (Global Environment Facility), GCF (Green Climate Fund).
This year’s official categories include:
- Large companies
- MSMEs
- Entrepreneurship
- Cooperatives and other associations
- Communities: population centers, territorial entities and organized civil society.
- Public or private educational institutions.
The application must be made through the application system via the ANDE Portal here.
Recognition that generates opportunities
Past winners from previous Uruguay Circular editions have stressed that the award and subsequent visibility of their projects allowed them to generate new alliances and, in some cases, new business opportunities.
Cristian Amacoria, from Naturplus, 2020 winner in the MSME category, says: “For us, receiving the Uruguay Circular Award was very important. It opened many doors, including the possibility to show our work and to let society know what we are doing”. Naturplus is a company that recycles out of use tyres. You can learn more about Naturplus here.
From Hifa Biomateriales, Felipe Machado, winner in the Entrepreneurship category in 2020, “When we won the award we were amazed”. Also, press media contacted us, and we had commercial approaches too”. Hifa uses biotechnology and design to generate biomaterials from edible fungi and agro-industrial waste. You can learn more about Hifa Biomaterials here.
“It was crucial for us to receive the Uruguay Circular Award. It ratified the vision we had ten years ago when we started recycling”, says Pablo Pérez, from Granja Don Pablo, winner in the Large Business category. The project developed at Granja Don Pablo, a dairy farm, achieves complete circularity of the processes and a condition of “zero waste” released into the environment. Projects like Granja Don Pablo, promote sustainable development production and the transition towards the circular economy in traditional agro-industries. You can learn more about the work of Granja Don Pablo here.
From the Centro Tecnológico de Pástico (CTPlas), winner in the Cooperatives and other associations category (2020), Agustín Tassani says: “We saw the opportunity to work together with other organizations in the concept of circular economy”. This cooperation seeks to generate solutions to post-consumer and post-industrial plastic waste, promoting the circular economy in the sector towards socially, economically and environmentally sustainable management. Learn more about “+Circular (CTPlas)” here.
Beatríz Alonso, from Ánima, winner in the Educational Institutions category (2020), says that Project “Ánima Clasifica” was an idea that arises from the students. Receiving the award was an important recognition, allowing Ánima to continue with further projects in the future. Learn more about Ánima Clasifica project here.
