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Waste pulled from rivers turned into coasters and garden stakes, defunct solar panels safely recycled and reusable containers used to measure precise quantities for township shoppers ― welcome to the circular economy.
Now, the people who come up with these creative innovations can pitch their business to a panel and win a R250,000 investment into their operations.
The Circular Innovation Challenge is now open and businesses behind the next big circular-economy solutions are invited to enter the 2026 competition.
The challenge is aimed at established circular-economy businesses across Southern Africa that are ready to grow and scale, rather than entrepreneurs with ideas still on the drawing board.
The organisers are looking for businesses already reducing waste, retaining the value of materials and helping build more regenerative economies across all sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, food, construction, fashion and textiles, packaging, energy, technology and waste management.
Finalists will be given the chance to showcase their businesses at the 9th Market Systems Symposium in Cape Town in October, as well as opportunities to test and refine their solutions within the V&A Waterfront ecosystem.
They will also be exposed to investors, policymakers, potential partners and new markets.
What makes the challenge unusual is that entrepreneurs will be pitching their ideas to an organisation already putting circular-economy principles into practice across one of Cape Town’s busiest precincts.
At the V&A Waterfront, discarded fishing nets are processed at the harbour net recycling facility at Collier Jetty, producing clean plastic flakes for reuse.
Its waste recovery and recycling centre diverts most of the precinct’s waste from landfill, while hundreds of tonnes of organic waste are composted every month.
Green building projects such as The Ridge have incorporated thousands of Eco bricks and repurposed PET waste into structural concrete.
The precinct has also launched a 1,000m² Circular Maker Space with the Craft and Design Institute at the Cape Town Cruise Terminal, giving designers and entrepreneurs access to equipment and facilities to manufacture products from recycled materials.
Green lease agreements with tenants are also being used to phase out single-use plastics across the neighbourhood.
“Circularity isn’t an abstract commitment for us ― it’s built into our harbour, our retail leases and our public spaces,” said V&A Waterfront CEO Graham Wood.
“We’re constantly testing what a circular precinct looks like in practice, and the Circular Innovation Challenge lets us open that same testing ground to entrepreneurs building the next generation of circular businesses.”
Wood said previous editions had demonstrated that some of the most significant environmental work was being done by ordinary businesses tackling practical problems.
“We’re looking for the businesses doing that work right now, and we want to give them the platform, the partners and the capital to do more of it,” he said.
Applications for the 2026 Circular Innovation Challenge can be made to solve.waterfront.co.za and the closing date is September 20.
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