Every year, our company obtains 100 billion tons of material from the earth, of which 30 billion of useless material ends up in landfills and oceans without further use. But about 80 percent of this seemingly useless “waste” can still be recovered. For this very reason Cyril Klepek founded the CYRKL secondary raw materials exchange.
The CYRKL waste market is based on a simple idea. What is useless for one can be a very valuable for another. A company that produces materials it has no longer uses for can offer them to others on the digital waste exchange market.
Most of them are plastics, building materials, paper, textiles or wood – simply raw materials that many other companies are interested in. And such companies can claim whatever they are interested in at the market. In addition, CYRKL uses technology that effectively connects the seller of a certain material with interested parties.
Originally unwanted material thus acquires new meaning. The agreement on the price and transport is then up to the companies, but it is certain that the environment will benefit either way. Thus, in less than a year and a half of its existence, CYRKL has managed to connect about 1,700 companies and save over 53,000 tons of carbon dioxide, which has, thanks to their actions, not been released into the atmosphere. By the end of the year, there should be about 3,200 companies involved in this project saving up to 90,000 tons of CO2.
And plans for next year? Expanding to the whole of Europe
A merger took place in mid-September, bringing the coveted goal of a carbon-neutral and waste-free society still a little closer. Tilia Impact Ventures, the first impact fund in the Czech Republic and Central Europe, has decided to support the CYRKL digital waste marketplace with an investment worth CZK 5 million. Thanks to this help, the expansion of CYRKL to Europe and then to the whole world should be faster. The project, which began with the idea of sustainable waste management, was also one of last year’s finalists for the Impact Hub Climate Challenge..
“The global change we want to make is very challenging, and we can’t do it alone. We understand what we are doing, and we are good at it, but because we want to take our project further, we need partners who will help us move forward,” commented Cyril Klepek on the connection with Tilia Impact Ventures.
Double savings for companies
They are already in business with companies such as Škoda Auto, Strabag, Skanska, Lidl, and IKEA joining their marketplace, and they now have clients all over the world. What is the success of this project? Cyril Klepek is clear: “It’s not that complicated, we are just effectively solving a problem that companies are facing. They use our product because it ultimately means both: saving money and reducing their carbon footprint. It’s a win-win situation for them.”
The latest challenge is to use Tilia Impact Ventures’ investment to grow and develop the product. “We are already operating in Slovakia, Poland, Germany and Austria. Next year we would like to expand throughout the whole of Europe. Among other plans, he mentions improving the website, adding new features such as automatic scanning so the companies can find out for how much they could offer their materials.” describes Cyril Klepek.
The CYRKL project was one of the six finalists for last year’s Climate Challenge. “During the acceleration, we met inspiring people and improved our marketing strategy,” says Cyril Klepek of the program’s benefits.