The circle of it: This company offers a marketplace on which on which companies can exchange their excess materials with each other, thereby reducing waste and encouraging re-use and repurpose.
Excess Materials Exchange
Summary
Excess Materials Exchange (EME) offers a means for businesses to learn about and possibly buy excess materials at a discount instead of buying new raw materials. The company uses AI technology to follow the physical items, to give a financial, environmental and societal value to products/materials and a matchmaking platform to facilitate matchmaking of products/materials. Examples include matching a tulip grower who had excess tulip heads to a paint maker who could convert the tulips into pigment. Another example was pairing a company that dealt with food excess to a company that created a leather-like substance with the excess fruit.
Story
The company was started by founders Maayke Damen and Christian Van Maaren who brought their talents and interest in circular economy to create a company around the concept of excess materials. In 2019, Excess Materials Exchange engaged in a pilot and saw some success. The company had identified 18 “material flows” for the participants that could potentially create “€64 million in financial value and a reduction of €54 million in environmental damage (eco-cost), resulting in a total value creation of €118 million.” Since then the company has steadily grown and is acquiring more partnerships.
Pic Credit: Source (right) and Plastic Smart Cities (top)
“Companies are also focued on closing the loop with their company or immediate vicinity which is not favourable to the circular economy. This results in many suboptimal uses of secondary materials. Traditional linear business models are experiencing friction and inefficiencies when met with the circular business model which is off putting for organisations. Lastly, there is a lack of transparency: people have no overview of what materials are available to them. With the Excess Materials Exchange we work on overcoming all these challenges.”
Maayke Damen in an interview
Founder(s)
Christian Van Maaren and Maayke Damen
Headquarters
Amsterdam, Netherlands
In business since
2017
Business type
for profit
Impact
According to their website over 64 million euros worth of resources with saved/created from their pilot program
Technology
creating AI technology to identify resources, track, value and match resources to companies that may need them, platform for matchmaking
Material
digital product, information services, AI
The Circular People 
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