New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Concept category

Identify the award category for which this concept is being submitted
Shaping a circular industrial ecosystem and supporting life-cycle thinking

Email user
manuel.weberndorfer97@gmail.com

Basic information
Concept title
Circle One

Full Concept Title
Circle One Packaging

Please provide a short, catchy description of your concept to be used in communication towards the public
Circle One produces reusable packaging material for online retailers and optimizes the return process via all deposit machines in supermarkets. The packaging is made from old truck planes. The end consumer can return their packaging in any supermarket in Austria and will get their deposition money back. This is a very valuable incentive and will lead to a high return rate. We can make the world better. Day by day. Order by Order.

What was the geographical scope of your concept?
Cross-border/international

Where was your concept implemented?
Location 1
Austria

Location 2
Germany

Member State(s), Western Balkans and other countries
{Empty}

If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
We will start in Austria and try to move to Germany very quickly. After that there are a lot of countries which use similar deposition system which are: Sweden, Iceland, Netherlands, Croatia, Lithuania, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia and Switzerland.

Does your concept address mainly urban or rural issues?
Mainly urban

Does your concept refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Has your concept benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
Yes

Which fund(s)?
ERDF : European Regional Development Fund

Here you can provide more details about the name of the specific programme, strand/action line as relevant, and the year
We are incubated in the Accent Incubator of lower Austria but did not get any monetary support.

Has your concept won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
No

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As an individual in partnership with other persons
Please provide the contact details for the author(s) of the concept:
- First name: Manuel
  Last name: Weberndorfer
  Gender: Male
  Age: 24
  Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
  reisepass_Manuel_Weberndorfer.jpg
  
  By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes
  Nationality: Austria
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Wassergasse 4/24
  Town: Vienna
  Postal code: 1030
  Country: Austria
  Direct Tel: +436603824687
  E-mail: manuel.weberndorfer97@gmail.com
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/84072681
In case my concept is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my concept in the channels of the European Commission
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
Accent told us about it.

Description of the concept
Please provide a summary of your concept.
The rapid growth in e-commerce in recent years - partly fueled by the pandemic - has led to enormous quantities of shipping packaging that have to be disposed of. Consumption of paper packaging in the German mail-order sector increased by 607% from 1996 to 2017. The situation in Austria is similar. One way of reducing the increasing volume of waste generated by the mail order business is to use the packaging more than once. There are already isolated approaches to this, but they have hardly progressed beyond the pilot stage. Circle One has developed a solution that can be implemented- without significant additional costs for packaging and- without changing the existing processes for packaging and shipping for online retailers and- without significant additional effort for the return of the packaging for consumers.These are shipping bags that are made from recycled truck tarpaulins which can be returned via the deposit bottle return machines in supermarkets. Circle One will offer a complete system: The innovative reusable packaging will be rented to online retailers. Circle One will organize the collection of the reusable packaging from the return machines, its reconditioning (checking for damage, cleaning, discarding worn packaging units, etc.) and the redelivery to online retailers. All of these services are included in the one-time rental price per cycle of a packaging unit, so that the rental price is directly comparable to the purchase of disposable packaging. The USP of Circle One's sustainable reusable packaging for online retail can be summarized as follows: 1) The new packaging solution is easy to calculate and can be integrated into existing processes. 2) Suppliers of goods via online marketplaces can position themselves as pioneers of sustainable online retailing. 3) Environmentally conscious consumers are given an opportunity to take advantage of online shopping without "violating" their principles.

Please indicate the main themes of your concept with 5 key words.
Circular Economy

Please indicate the main themes of your concept with key words
Circular Packaging

Please indicate the main themes of your concept with key words
E-Commerce

Please indicate the main themes of your concept with key words
Reuseable packaging

Please indicate the main themes of your concept with key words
Deposition System

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept in terms of sustainability and how these have been met. Please highlight how the concept can be exemplary in this context.
With Circle One we will save emission in various areas, such as: using recycled materials and not producing new one as long as possible, reusing it 50+ times and bringing back the old material back into the recycling process if it is not reusable any more. The incentive for people to bring it back will increase the return rates and therefore the reusability of our product. Our goal is to save 1 billion tons of CO2 in E-Commerce and reduce the waste volume in this industry massively.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the concept can be exemplary in this context.
The end consumer can return their packaging in any supermarket in the already existing machines. This makes it very easy for them as they are going to the supermarket anyway. Environmentally conscious consumers are given an opportunity to take advantage of online shopping without "violating" their principles. The design of our product makes it also very easy to put it in a normal handbag therefore the transport to the supermarket is very easy as well. As you can obviously see that our packaging is made of recycled truck tarpaulins it gives people the immediate feeling of doing something good for the environment when they are using and returning it.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the concept can be exemplary in this context.
The deposition price will be high enough to be an incentive for returning the packaging but not too high that some people can't afford it. It is our main goal to deliver this solution on a wide scale with every online shopper included.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the concept and civil society have been / will be involved in the concept and what has been / will be the impact of this involvement on the concept.
From the very beginning we discussed with a lot of end consumers what would make it as easy as possible for them to use such a solution. We are happy to say that we could include all their answers within our product development.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and development of the concept. Please highlight what the added value of their engagement was
From the very beginning we talked to all the stakeholders included. Even before we developed the product, we discussed their requirements with: logistics companies, fulfillment center, Ministry of climate change, end consumer, supermarkets, producer of deposition machine and online retailers. We are able to include all their needs in our product to deliver the best "Stakeholder Service".

Please explain which disciplines and / or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and development of your concept. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was
We developed the product together with all stakeholders included and developed the financial plan together with experts in this field such as tax consultants, financial advisors, etc. The first idea was developed together with mentors of Red Bull and the Red Bull Basement competition and since then we further developed our concept by talking to every expert we could find. We also got a lot of coaching from Accent.

Please explain the innovative character of your concept when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the concept.
There are different solutions for reusable packaging but all of them have the same problem: it is not returning. The innovative character of Circle One is the incentive based and easy to use returning system and the business model innovation which allow us to charge a one-time rental price per cycle of a packaging unit, so that the rental price is directly comparable to the purchase of disposable packaging.

Please which elements of your concept could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and contexts. This may involve, for example, aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings, etc.
Additionally to Austria the same concept could be used in:
Germany, Sweden, Iceland, Netherlands, Croatia, Lithuania, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Switzerland because they have the same deposition systems with the same kind of machines. If you think it further and don't use a machine for it and employees in the supermarket will take it back then it could be used all over the world.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the concept addresses by providing local solutions
The big problem we as a society have is that we produce so much waste and emissions that we are driving our planet into a crisis. With implementing Circle One locally we can reduce this problem within the E-Commerce sector and pass on the convenience of online shopping to our children and grandchildren.

Please attach the development plan of your concept. This plan should detail the plans you have for the further development and implementation of your concept, with a particular attention to the steps envisaged in the year following the application. The plan should also include envisaged results and benefits from the concept for direct and indirect beneficiaries. The results and benefits should be specified in relation to the objectives of the concept, and to what is expected in the context of the respective category

CircleOneDevelopmentPlan.pdf
Please attach at least one high resolution image or visual representation of your concept to your application.
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload or write below
- Businessplan_CircleOne en-GB.pdf
By submitting your application you confirm that you are the copyright owner of the images provided and that they can be used by the European Commission for the purposes of promoting the New European Bauhaus on all platforms (websites, print, social media and other).
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes

By submitting this application, I declare that I am not related to the entities subject to EU restricted measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and subject to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)1, and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05), which are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed concept has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the concept, initiative, and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary.
Yes

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their concepts, concepts, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted concept, concept is found to infringe third party’s rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you read and understand that the ‘Guide to Applicants’ of the NEB Prizes 2023, available online in the website of the NEB Prizes 2023, is an integral part of this application form and that it must therefore be observed when completing and submitting your application.
Yes