Antonella Ilaria Totaro

Antonella Ilaria Totaro is an expert in circular economy and sustainability, which she has been working on for years between the Netherlands and Italy. She holds a Phd in Innovation for the Circular Economy at the University of Turin and is Head of Production and Communication of the Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food podcast. On Renewable Matter she is responsible for the Startup section.

Chakr, Capturing Pollution to Make Ink

Name: Chakr Innovation Sector: New technologies and materials Pros: A retrofitted device that captures polluting particles emitted by diesel generators at the source Characterist...

Subscription Clothing with Le Tote

Name: Le Tote Sector: Circular Business Model Pros: Subscription service for women’s clothing Characteristics: Allows customers to rent women’s clothes and acces...

Aeropowder: Insulating Materials Made From Feathers

Name: Aeropowder Sector: New materials Pros: Thermally insulating material for packaging and construction, made from poultry-industry waste Characteristics: Making use of ke...

Energiesprong: How to Transform 11,000 Apartments into Net Zero Energy Buildings

Sprong in Dutch means “leap forward.” In fact, a leap forward is exactly what Energiesprong has realised over the last few years in the residential housing construction and energy effici...

The Renewal Workshop - Unsold Clothing on Sale

Name: The Renewal Workshop Sector: Refurbishment and sale of clothing items Plus: Sale of renewed clothing obtained from items deemed unsaleable Characteristics: The Renewal...

RePack, the Packaging with Many Lives

Name: RePack Sector: Reusable packaging service Plus: Reusable and traceable Packaging through the take-back system allowing reuse for at least 20 deliveries Characteristics:&nbs...

Depolymerising Plastic with Gr3n

Name: Gr3n Sector: Technology for PET recycling Plus: Patented technology that uses microwave reactors in order to recycle PET, returning it to its original monomers Characterist...

Hello Tractor, Apps Enter the World of Agriculture

Name: Hello Tractor Sector: Sharing Economy Plus: An App that maps machinery present on a local level and optimises their use and sharing between farmers  Characteristics:&n...

Future-Proof Incubators: Between Work and Innovation

According to a recent global study,(1) incubators and accelerators that are connected to universities alone created over 70,000 jobs between 2017 and 2018, generating a revenue of $3.2 billion ...

The Blue Revolution Playground

“To have a real impact and solve the most pressing problems, we need entrepreneurs.” This is the mantra that has been repeated for years by Siemen Cox and Wouter Veer – the creator...

Cupclub, the Startup Providing Cups as a Service

Name: CupClub Sector: Product as a service in the packaging sector Plus: Reusable packaging service for beverages Characteristics: Cupclub helps shops reduce throwaway packa...

ecoBirdy: New Toys from Recycled Plastic

Name: ecoBirdy Sector: New materials and products from recycled materials Plus: Furniture and designer objects for children made with recycled plastic waste Characteristics: ...

InStock Recovers 500 Tonnes of Food

Name: InStock Sector: Catering Supplies from salvaged food Plus: InStock transforms food surplus into products served in restaurants, catering companies and food trucks Character...

Evoware, the Algae Based Packaging that Disappears

Name: Evoware Sector: New bioplastic materials Plus: Biodegradable and edible packaging for food and other products made from algae  Characteristics: Design and product...

Re-designing the Future

According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation “A circular economy is one that is restorative and regenerative by design.” The big challenge for innovators and pioneers is to desi...

Cleaning Our Oceans? No Lack of New Ideas

Over the past few years, a trending environmental issues has been that of marine litter. It is a problem affecting many countries around the world. Contrary to what usually occurs, marine litter is ...

In Singapore the Air-con Runs as a Service

Everything started around eight years ago when Kaer’s CEO, Justin Taylor, sat down with the chairman and senior directors to begin a conversation on how to innovate the company and generate ad...

Growing Bricks from Bacteria with bioMASON

Name: bioMASON Plus: Construction materials grown from bacteria at room temperature Sector: New Materials Characteristics: bioMASON employs natural microorganisms for the production of ind...

W.r.yuma: Spectacles from Plastic Bottles and Dashboards

Name: W.r.yuma Plus: Products from recycled materials Sector: First ever 3D printed sunglasses from plastic waste Characteristics: Old car dashboards, plastic bottles and fridge ...

Winnow: Saving Food by Analysing Waste

Name: Winnow Plus: Technology for tracing and reducing food waste by monitoring rubbish bins Sector: Technology Characteristics: Winnow identifies different categories of bi...