SILVER
Cisco – Circular Design Transformation
Cisco has set a new standard for circular design in the technology industry by achieving its 2025 goal of incorporating Circular Design Principles into 100% of new products and packaging. These performance-based principles address materials, packaging, energy consumption, and full product life cycle considerations. Circular design is critical to broader sustainability efforts; according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 80% of a product’s environmental impact is influenced by decisions made at the design stage.
Cisco’s circular design efforts help reduce environmental impact and deliver business value by reducing waste, saving energy, driving innovation, increasing supply chain resiliency, and lowering costs. In addition, the company’s other circularity programs – including product recovery and product remanufacturing – keep materials in circulation longer and enable customers to participate in a circular business model.
SILVER
Hilti Group – From Fleet Returns to New Value: Hilti’s Reduce–Reuse–Recycle Circularity Program
Hilti’s Circularity Program turns expired Fleet Management tools into new value by reducing resource use, extending product life and keeping materials in circulation. Since 2020, we have built a global take‑back and processing system guided by the principles Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Returned assets flow into four industrialized reuse pathways: redeploying tools, batteries and chargers into our Premium Tool Pool for Tool‑on‑Demand and loan tools; donating suitable tools to educational and humanitarian organisations; spare‑parts reuse in professional repairs; and battery reuse for exchanges under stringent safety testing;. What cannot be reused is recycled via certified partners, with typically over 70% of a tool’s mass recovered. We also close material loops: Hilti tool cases now contain more than 20% recycled content, including closed‑loop material from returned Hilti cases. In 2025 alone, the program avoided nearly 2.5 kt CO₂, enabled reuse of 250,000 spare parts annually, and donated 6,000+ tools in 20 countries.
BRONZE
Used Kitchen Hub – Transforming UK Kitchens Through Circular Economy
Used Kitchen Hub is transforming UK home renovation through circular economy principles, giving pre-owned and ex-display kitchens a second life instead of sending them to landfill.
Since 2015, Used Kitchen Hub has sold over 1700 kitchens. In the past four years alone, we have facilitated over 1100 kitchen resales, diverting around 2,200 tonnes of materials from landfill and helping households save an estimated £40 million.
Our model combines digital valuations, a curated online marketplace and professional dismantling and delivery, making kitchen reuse simple, reliable and financially rewarding. Trade partners, from developers to showrooms, can reduce waste and meet ESG targets without adding operational burden.
By removing barriers to circular practices, we are creating measurable environmental impact and shifting homeowner behaviour toward reuse over discard. The platform is scalable, replicable and demonstrates how a commercially viable business can embed sustainability at its core.
BRONZE
Fairman Knight and Sons UK – Closing the Food Loop: UK’s first commercial Food Waste Upcycling Insect Farming Business
Fairman Knight delivers circular economy impact at verified commercial scale. Each year, the company upcycles 20,000 tonnes of surplus food waste into 3,500 tonnes of high-quality insect protein and 7,000 tonnes of chitin-rich frass fertiliser, making it the only UK company producing these circular products commercially.
From recovered chitin, Fairman Knight produces over 100,000 kg of chitosan, converted into 4.4 million litres of 5% biostimulant, which inoculates soils across the UK against fusarium and crop pests, reducing dependence on synthetic agrochemicals.
By diverting organic waste from landfill into decentralised processing, the business generates 30,000 tonnes of Gold Standard CO₂e credits annually through avoided methane emissions.
Circular impact is matched with social value: Fairman Knight is a Disability Confident Employer, an Armed Forces Covenant signatory, and runs DWP SWAP schemes to support community employment. Demand significantly exceeds capacity, demonstrating scalability and commercial viability.