EPEA GmbH – Part of Drees & Sommer has won the Circularity Champion Award 2025 for its significant contribution to a genuine circular economy. With this annual award, the F.A.Z. Institute promotes and recognizes outstanding services which carry forward the circular economy. EPEA convinced the jury in the category Systemic Rethinking and took first place among the four nominated companies. The award ceremony was held, as part of the 14th Responsible Leadership Conference, in the F.A.Z. Tower in Frankfurt am Main on Oktober 23.
Every day, enormous amounts of resources and tons of waste are produced all over the world. The main reason is our linear economic system. Raw materials are extracted, processed, sold, used and finally disposed of. However, only a small part is being recycled. Marcel Özer, Managing Director Cradle to Cradle Real Estate at EPEA GmbH comments: “Linear thinking is the greatest structural obstacle to a genuine circular economy. The environmental research and consultancy institute has been tackling this challenge with the Cradle to Cradle approach, based on systemic thinking and a genuine circular economy, for many years already. We are delighted to receive the award, which strengthens us in our work.“
A Pioneer in Circular Engineering
Since its foundation in 1987 by Professor Dr. Michael Braungart, the company has consistently driven forward the implementation of circular principles thanks to the support of an interdisciplinary team of experts from the fields of biology, chemistry, environmental science, civil engineering and many more. Together, they cover a broad range of skills across various sectors: from industrial products through buildings and neighborhoods to circular cities. “The need for action is particularly high in the building industry. We were able to apply our circular engineering approach to more than 200 construction projects right from the start of the planning phase,” says Marcel Özer. Examples include the Roche Campus in Basel, the office building The Cradle in Duesseldorf and the Moringa residential building in Hamburg.
Circularity in the Digital and Analog World
With material passports for all types of buildings under the name Building Circularity Passports, EPEA is also pursuing this ideal in the digital world. Supported by the building information modeling (BIM) method, the environmental data of the products are entered directly in the course of the digital planning of the building, and the recycling of the materials is taken into account from the outset in the design process. EPEA started issuing circularity passports ten years ago, promoting the circular economy in the construction industry. In addition, EPEA and the German federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg are currently involved in the development of secondary raw materials centers. These centers will enable high quality recycling of materials from existing buildings for use in new construction projects, refurbishment, modernization and industrial processes: a change of paradigm in the waste disposal sector.
The Circularity Champion Award was presented for the second time. The jury had nominated a total of 25 companies in five categories: systemic rethinking, recycling and restoring, design, Cradle to Cradle, and reuse and product value.
For more information about the event and the Circularity Champion Award, please click at the link