Update from the Green Alley Award team

Welcome on board, Martin Wright

Every year, only six circular economy startups make it through the tough selection process of the Green Alley Award. At the evening of the Grand Finale, those six finalists meet the Green Alley Award jury. The jury consists of circular economy experts, including Landbell Group CEO Jan Patrick Schulz, the previous winner of the Green Alley Award, Gelatex, and the CEO of Seedmatch, our partner and Germany’s first crowdfunding platform.

This year, the Green Alley Award team is very happy to welcome Martin Wright, Chair of the British news platform Positive News to the jury. Positive News is the magazine for good journalism about the good things that are happening. Much of the media is full of doom and gloom, but Positive News is the first media organisation in the world that is dedicated to quality, independent reporting about what is going right.

A long history in the circular economy

Martin is a highly experienced speaker, writer and adviser on sustainability and positive futures. Formerly Editor in Chief of Green Futures (now The Futures Centre) and Director of Forum for the Future (India), he has worked with The Guardian, Greenpeace and WWF to only mention a few.

His work is driven by a strong belief that there is no such thing as an alternative to the circular economy: ‘We can’t continue sucking up finite resources and spewing out waste and expect to have an environment in which we can thrive. We are running out of resources, and running out of ways to dispose of waste which doesn’t cause problems. You can’t throw stuff ‘away’, because there is no ‘away’.’

Politics and companies can work together

Martin is convinced that politics and businesses can work together to promote a circular economy business model: ‘We can encourage a more circular economy by a mix of regulation and fiscal incentives. Reframing the latter so we tax what we don’t want (pollution), not what we do (jobs), would be a start. Companies should do what they do best – pursue the business opportunities which lie in the circular economy, and lobby governments for regulations which encourage them to do so, by penalizing wasteful business models.’

‘You’ll come over best if you’re natural’

The Green Alley Award team is excited to have Martin with us when the jury chooses the 7th Green Alley Award winner on 22 April 2021. Startups can apply from 8th September to 17th November and Martin even has some good advice for the live pitches: be yourself and enthuse!

Read the whole interview on the Green Alley Award website here.