The Circular Innovation Award Austria (CIAA) recognises outstanding contributions to the circular economy in Austria. From the numerous entries received in 2026, the jury has shortlisted nominees in five categories and for two special prizes — companies and projects whose innovations demonstrate how the circular economy works in practice. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on 28 October 2026.
CATEGORY 1
Circular Industry Innovation (at scale)
Industrial circular economy solutions with a large-scale impact.
- Borouge International (Borealis GmbH) — Drives forward the scaling up of the Ecoplast recycling process and returns post-consumer plastics to the cycle as high-quality, industrially usable recyclates.
- Mondi — Develops recyclable packaging materials that replace composite materials which have hitherto been difficult or impossible to recycle — manufactures on a large-scale industrial basis.
- Vetropack Austria — Rezon is the world’s first 0.33-litre returnable glass bottle featuring a reinforced lightweight design: lighter weight, greater durability in circulation, and more refill cycles.
- AT&S (Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik AG) — Achieve success with the patented process
- ELARIS Copper from printed circuit board production, thereby closing a previously linear material flow in electronics manufacturing.
- Prinzhorn Group — Combines waste paper collection, recycled paper production and packaging manufacture into a closed-loop system — Around 2.7 million tonnes of containerboard and 2.8 billion m² of packaging by 2025, with 10,455 employees across 16 countries.
CATEGORY 2
Circular Business Model Innovation
New business models that make circularity a core principle.
- Joulzen — Transforming decommissioned oil tanks into large thermal storage facilities, combined with heat pumps and smart control systems — five pilot plants are being pooled to form a virtual power plant for flexibility markets.
- Molto Luce GmbH — Brings lighting systems back into service through scalable on-site and off-site refurbishment — around 400 refurbished luminaires each save 301 kg CO₂e.
- REPLOID — Industrialises the rearing of black soldier flies and converts regional organic waste into insect protein, fat and fertiliser — with rapid revenue growth from 0.7 to a forecast 38 million euros.
- Concular Austria GmbH — Connects supply and demand for the reuse of building materials, both digitally and physically — a pilot project in Salzburg shows a potential CO₂ saving of around 340 tonnes.
- refurbed — Europe’s marketplace for refurbished electronics operates in 24 countries with over 400 refurbisher partners and has saved 474,000 tonnes of CO₂ since its foundation.
CATEGORY 3
Technological Circularity Breakthrough
Technological breakthroughs for closed-loop material cycles.
- Greiner (Packaging) — K3® r100 automatically separates into cardboard and plastic during the sorting process — RecyClass A-certified, 54 % less plastic, and a CO₂e footprint around 30 % lower than that of a standard cup.
- LivinFarms — Using the modular Hive-PRO systems for breeding black soldier flies, customer sites in five countries process up to 100,000 tonnes of organic waste per year.
- Binder+Co AG — An AI-powered optical sorting machine separates construction and demolition waste with up to 99.2 % accuracy — currently in use as part of the EU pilot project „CDW Circle“ in Brescia.
- Brantner Green Solutions — GLASY technology recovers glass from incineration slag — now in industrial-scale operation in Hohenruppersdorf.
- Trastic — Produces sheet material from 100 % of recycled plastic using a patented pressing process — emits around 90 % less CO₂ than virgin material; used, amongst others, by a&o Hotels and Nike stores.
CATEGORY 4
Circular Startup of the Year
Austria’s most promising circular start-ups, powered by the Vienna Business Agency.
- Neworn — Combines the purchase of second-hand branded goods with a C2C marketplace to create a circular platform for children’s fashion — featuring over twelve exclusive brand partnerships.
- SUPASO (MUCH) — A modular upcycling hub that produces, amongst other things, cellulose insulation from waste materials.
- byeagain — Uses AI-powered ‘Refurbishment-as-a-Service’ to return even non-standard returns to the retail market — operated from a warehouse in Graz.
CATEGORY 5
Circular Collaboration Award
Partnerships that close loops across organisational boundaries.
- ARA (Altstoff Recycling Austria AG) — „Five partners, one cycle“: ARA, OMV, Borouge International, Greiner Packaging and ORF are putting 100,000 reusable cups containing 97 % recycled content into circulation for the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest.
- ÖBB (ÖBB Passenger Transport AG) — The „Uniform Recycling Pioneers“ are joining forces with Austrian Post, Wiener Linien, Austrian Airlines, City Airport Train and Salesianer Miettex to bring together end-of-life workwear for the first time, creating a pool of sufficient volume to make textile recycling economically viable.
- GzG Gipsrecycling GmbH — Austria’s first gypsum-to-gypsum recycling plant — a joint venture between PORR, Saint-Gobain Austria and Saubermacher, which processes up to 60,000 tonnes of gypsum waste per year.
- RPB – Construction Recycling Platform (submitted by BRV) — Digitally matches supply and demand for mineral construction and demolition materials — a pilot project with PORR saved around 75 % in costs on 7,000 m³ of material matched.
- BauKarussell e.Gen. — „Social Urban Mining“ combines the dismantling of buildings prior to demolition with social and economic skills training — run by a co-operative with 19 members, including Caritas, Volkshilfe and the Vienna University of Technology.
Austria Circular Innovation Award 2026 is an initiative of the Circular Economy Forum Austria, Schiefer Solicitors and Raiffeisen-Landesbank Styria under the patronage of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Climate and Environmental Protection, Regions and Water Management.
The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on 28 October 2026 announced.
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