sera GmbH awards environmental prize within the framework of the business plan competition promotion Nordhessen

The nationwide business plan competition promotion Nordhessen provides valuable support through sustainable promotion of new start-ups by means of business plan consulting, active network management and the transfer of founder know-how.

On Friday, March 26, 2021, the winners of the 21st round of the business plan competition were selected. Due to the current Corona situation, the event was streamed live from the Neue Denkerei in Kassel. Under the motto “Every good idea fits on a beer mat”, 40 business plans were submitted, eleven of which finally reached the jury round and had the chance to win an award.seraGmbH awarded the environmental prize it donated and endowed with € 2,000 to the Kassel-based founding team SHARDS.SHARDS are tiles made from construction waste.

In 2018, 14.4 million tons of clay were mined for construction in Germany alone, while at the same time four times that amount of construction waste was generated. SHARDS has made it its mission to conserve resources and recycle construction waste. For this, the founders were already awarded the Federal Ecodesign Prize by the Federal Ministry for the Environment in 2018. SHARDS tiles not only consist of 100% construction waste – the tiles themselves can also be completely recycled back into the production cycle, so that old SHARDS tiles can be turned into new ones. No binders or dyes are used in the production of SHARDS tiles; only the fine interplay of the source materials ensures a wide range of tiles – both visually and haptically. Customers can help design their own tiles and thus individually do something for the environment.

With this sustainable business plan, SHARDS was also able to convince the jury of the business plan competition promotion Nordhessen and took first place in the start-up competition.

Again sera had the right nose and awarded the winner of the competition with the sera environmental prize. “Real added values for people and the environment are created here” explains Stefan Merwar, Head of Marketing and Communication at sera. “sera is committed to environmental protection in many ways. As an environmental technology company, we develop and produce solutions for a sustainable economy – whether hydrogen technologies for sustainable mobility or dosing systems that ensure clean drinking and service water – we want to make a sustainable contribution every day and also do this in the form of various sponsorships or in-house projects.

We all produce far too much waste – as private individuals and as a society. Any opportunity to recycle discarded materials is a good one. SHARDS, with its tiles made from construction waste, has created a solution that not only recycles discarded materials – it has also created a solution for design-savvy individuals who want to make their walls individual but, above all, sustainable. We are very pleased that this excellent idea comes from Kassel – and we are even more excited about the production that will soon start in Kassel. Congratulations to SHARDS!”

For more information, please visit: https://www.sera-web.com/en