CoCircular proposes a solution to construction waste

Paula Sánchez studied technical architecture , so her professional activity was always closely linked to the real estate sector. She lived through times of prosperity, but in 2009 she was swept away by the crisis and had to reinvent herself. She started a fashion business and it was here that she realised the waste that was being generated. Her activity began to turn towards a more sustainable model and, as she firmly states, she wanted to be part of the solution and not the problem.

Despite his efforts, the business did not take off and, by twists of fate, he met Iker Marcaide, entrepreneur and founder of Flywire , a giant in payment methods. “He suggested that I set up a company around waste in general and I went for it. I did a market study in which I found that construction produced 30% of waste and that sustainability had reached issues of energy efficiency, but not waste. Since I knew the entire value chain of this sector, I started there,” explains Sánchez.

Its journey began in January 2019, which crystallized with the formalization of CoCircular in August 2020, accompanied by the Venture Builder fund Zubi Labs . A year later, Leo Martínez joined.

Their steps were aimed at developing a protocol for separating waste at source and locating the best managers who would transform this waste and not take it to a landfill. They designed the 360º Advisor software , based on artificial intelligence, which digitalises the circular management of waste, optimising it throughout the entire value chain. With this tool, they have managed to convert more than 92% of their clients' waste into secondary raw material. “With its use, the traceability of each waste is measured, environmental impact metrics are obtained in a single click, it provides data that allows better decisions to be made or it guides you on which waste you can stop generating. All this saves money and time, around 10 hours per person per month,” the co-founder emphasises.

CoCircular currently has 200 clients and has saved more than four million tons of waste from landfills. 90% of this waste comes from the construction sector, with clients such as Metrovacesa, Neinor and Habitat. The rest comes from the construction products, cosmetics, retail , textile and automotive industries.

For the moment, their activity is focused on Spain because, as Sánchez says, they know the mechanics of asset managers here well, although their clients suggest they grow in other countries where they also operate. For now, they have tested a pilot project in Portugal.

With 19 employees and a turnover of 1,100,000 euros, which triples that of 2023, since its foundation they have raised capital through two rounds among investors, family and friends of 400,000 in 2021 and 800,000 euros in 2023. Currently, they are immersed in a third, with the forecast of reaching between 1.5 and two million euros. Their objective is to develop three lines of growth: to provide the company with resources for expansion into other sectors, to position itself with its platform as the first digital waste certifier, and to offer companies a service for contracting managers.