Request for Applications: POLREC Awards 2025

Categories

• Innovation Award – Pioneering solutions in polymer recycling
  • This award recognises outstanding innovations that significantly contribute to advancing polymer recycling. It is aimed at European SMEs that have developed breakthrough technologies, processes, or products addressing key challenges in polymer waste recovery and reuse.
• Training & Upskilling Award – Building competence for recycling Readiness
  • This award recognises outstanding training and upskilling activities that significantly contribute to advancing polymer recycling. It is aimed at European SMEs that have developed training content in polymer waste recovery and reuse.
• Internationalisation Award – Expanding recycling solutions beyond Europe
  • This award recognises a European SME that has successfully implemented a strategy to expand its polymer recycling-related activities beyond the EU. Whether through exports, partnerships, mutual learning, technology transfer, or market entry, this award highlights impactful international initiatives that support the global deployment and co-development of recycling solutions, acknowledging the value of both exporting European expertise and integrating innovations and practices from international partners.

Prize Information

• The POLREC Awards will recognise excellence that significantly contribute to advancing polymer recycling in Europe and beyond in three key categories: Innovation, Training & Upskilling, and Internationalisation. One winner will be selected in each category by the POLREC consortium and awarded a €6,000 prize.
• All three winners will be invited to present their solution publicly during the POLREC Final Event on October 10th, held at the K Show, the world’s leading trade fair for plastics and rubber. Following the presentations, the audience will vote for the most impactful pitch. The pitch receiving the highest number of public votes will be awarded an additional €2,000 prize. This participation to POLREC Final event that will gather European SMEs, stakeholders and international partners will ensure for the awarded SMEs visibility, networking opportunities, and potential EU-level or international-level collaborations.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible, applicants must satisfy all the following conditions:
  • Be a legal entity.
  • Be a small or medium sized enterprise (SME) in accordance with the SME definition of the European Union.
  • To not be under liquidation or in financial difficulty or excluded from EU funding by national or EU law or non-compliant with tax or social security obligations in the country of establishment or involved in insolvency proceedings or similar legal situations.
  • Submit only one application for a single POLREC Awards category. If an SME submits applications in multiple categories, the POLREC consortium will contact the applicant and request that they select one category only for consideration.
  • Award winners must attend the K Fair 2025 in Düsseldorf in person on October 10th, 2025, to receive their award during the POLREC Final Event. Please note that travel and accommodation costs must be covered by the winners themselves. However, the award prize is designed to cover these expenses, including participation in the K Fair.
  • Applicants are entitled to benefit from more than one type of POLREC financial support, reaching a total maximum funding from POLREC of 60 000€ per SME. Consequently, laureates of the POLREC previous Open Calls can apply to the POLREC Awards call if the financial support already attributed does not exceed 52 000€.
• The SMEs targeted by this call can cover various sectors, such as transport and mobility, construction, renewable energy, digital and electronics, health, consumer goods, industrial and food packaging. All SMEs are eligible to this call and welcome to apply, not only the previous POLREC Open Call beneficiaries.
• Applications must be written in English and complete in all the parts indicated in application form. Only parts written in English will be evaluated.

For more information, visit EC.