For its significant contribution to the transformation towards a true circular economy, EPEA GmbH — Part of Drees & SommerdenCircularity Champion Award 2025 in the “Systemic Rethinking” category. With this annual award, the F.A.Z. Institute promotes and honors innovative approaches and outstanding achievements in the circular economy.
EPEA impressed the jury in the “Systemic Rethinking” category and took first place among the four nominated companies. The award ceremony took place on October 23 as part of the 14th Responsible Leadership Conference at the F.A.Z. Tower in Frankfurt am Main. Dr. Peter Mösle accepted the award on behalf of EPEA.
Huge amounts of resources are consumed every day and tons of waste are produced all over the world. The main round is our linear economic system: raw materials are mined, processed, used and finally disposed of. So far, only a small proportion of them have made it back into circulation. “Linear thinking is the biggest structural hurdle on the way to a true circular economy. EPEA has been meeting this challenge for many years with the Cradle to Cradle approach, which stands for systemic thinking and a true circular economy. We are therefore extremely pleased to receive the Circularity Champion award and encourages us in our work,” says Marcel Özer, Managing Director of Cradle to Cradle Real Estate at EPEA GmbH.
A pioneer of the circular economy
Since its founding in 1987 by Professor Michael Braungart, the company has consistently promoted the establishment of circular principles. This is made possible by an interdisciplinary team consisting of biologists, chemists, environmental technicians and civil engineers, among others. Together, they cover a wide range of competencies and areas: from industrial products to buildings and districts to recyclable cities. “In the building sector in particular, the need for action is very high. With our circular engineering approach, we have already been able to integrate recyclability into the planning of over 200 construction projects,” explains Marcel Özer. Examples include the Roche Campus in Basel, The Cradle office building in Düsseldorf and the Moringa residential building in Hamburg.
Circularity in the digital and analog world
With building resource passes, so-called CircularityPassport Buildings, EPEA is also pursuing this claim in the digital world: Environmental data from products flows directly into digital building planning using Building Information Modeling, or BIM for short, and the material cycle is already considered in the design process. EPEA has been creating such building resource passes for ten years and is driving the circular economy in the construction sector. EPEA is also currently working with the state of Baden-Württemberg on the development of secondary raw materials centers. These centers enable high-quality recycling of materials from existing buildings into new buildings, renovation or industrial processes: a paradigm shift in waste management.
The Circularity Champion Award was presented for the second time this year. The jury nominated a total of 25 companies in five categories, including systemic rethinking, recycling and recovery, design, cradle to cradle, as well as reuse and product value.