10 Amsterdam companies combating waste for a more circular city

Companies focused on textile waste

Primal Soles - Most shoes end up in landfills, making it one of fashion’s biggest environmental problems. Primal Soles has designed the world’s first circular, nature-positive footwear solutions to prevent linear footwear waste from polluting our planet. Two brothers went from complaining about sustainable shoe insoles to creating B Corp-certified ones in under 1.5 years. The pair are now on a mission to reduce landfill by at least 1 million pieces of footwear waste.

Droppie - The furniture and leather industries generate billions of kilos of waste each year, largely because products aren’t designed with reuse or recycling in mind. Droppie is working to change that mindset and champion recycling. In June 2024, the innovative start-up opened its first recycling hub in Amsterdam, tackling waste by collecting discarded items at a dedicated depot and rewarding recyclers for their efforts. Through its circular waste platform and app, the company encourages people to properly separate and drop off their waste, earning rewards in return. By transforming waste into valuable new raw materials, Droppie is proving that trash can, indeed, be treasure.

Renewaball - 330 million tennis balls are manufactured globally each year and take around 400 years to decompose according to The Economist. Renewaball is an Amsterdam based company pioneering the world's first fully circular tennis and paddle balls. Founded in 2020, the company addresses the significant environmental impact of traditional tennis and paddle balls, which are difficult to recycle and often end up in landfills, taking up to 400 years to decompose.

Companies focused on waste from the built environment

Pretty Plastic - Discarded plastic is anything but pretty. It doesn’t break down easily, often ending up in ecosystems where it harms wildlife and pollutes the environment. Enter Pretty Plastic, a company that transforms discarded household plastics into striking, durable facade cladding. The company gives waste new life as high-quality building materials. Founded in 2015 by two designers and an architect, Pretty Plastic reduces reliance on virgin resources and shifts away from the outdated linear mindset, embracing a more circular approach that takes responsibility for both the past and the future.

Reflow - We all know that plastic waste pollutes our planet, harms wildlife, clogs ecosystems, contributes to climate change, and remains in our environment for centuries. That is why Reflow transforms discarded and biodegradable plastics into high-quality 3D printing materials, supporting sustainable manufacturing practices.

Companies focused on waste in the food sector

Grow it Away - When organic waste decomposes in landfills without oxygen, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide and a major driver of climate change. Grow it Away is tackling this issue by helping Amsterdam improve its composting habits, following the principles of the Soil Food Web. What began as a home composting hobby quickly grew into a wider waste reduction mission across the Amsterdam Area. Founder Jess Grant has since turned her passion into practical action, offering composting services to homes, offices, and cafés throughout the city.

Instock- is an Amsterdam-based social enterprise fighting food waste by rescuing surplus produce and turning it into restaurant meals, sustainable products, and supplies for the hospitality industry. Founded in 2014, they run InstockMarket, a B2B platform connecting leftover food to chefs, and produce circular products like Pieper Bier. By giving surplus food a second life, Instock tackles waste, promotes a circular economy, and raises awareness about smarter, more sustainable consumption.

The Waste Transformers - Composting organic waste, such as food scraps and garden clippings, keeps it out of landfills, where it would otherwise break down without oxygen and release methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. The Waste Transformers offer on-site, containerised anaerobic digesters that safely capture this methane as the waste decomposes. Instead of letting it escape into the atmosphere, the system converts the gas into usable energy and produces natural fertiliser, helping businesses manage their organic waste sustainably, right where it’s created.

Taste Before You Waste - Growing food consumes valuable resources like water, energy, and land, so making use of food that would otherwise go to waste helps us use these resources more wisely. Taste Before You Waste is a foundation dedicated to reducing consumer food waste by educating and inspiring communities. Through donation-based dinners, markets, and workshops, they show that food often discarded is still perfectly good, delicious, and worth valuing.

Too Good to Go - is a social impact company fighting food waste by connecting businesses with surplus food to consumers through its app. Founded in Copenhagen, the company expanded to the Amsterdam Area in 2018 allowing users buy unsold food from restaurants, bakeries, and supermarkets at a discount before it’s thrown away. The mission is simple: save good food from going to waste, reduce environmental impact, and make sustainability accessible to everyone, one ‘Magic Bag’ at a time.