To mark European Waste Reduction Week 2025, Eiffage Energía Sistemas launched the second edition of its open innovation campaign on the Start.Box platform: “This is Not Waste”—an initiative designed to foster creativity, sustainability, and the circular economy across the organization.
With over 40 proposals submitted by employees from across the Eiffage Energía Sistemas Group, including its domestic and international subsidiaries, the competition aimed to inspire novel ideas for reusing materials and waste, giving them a second life through both functional and artistic solutions.
The 2025 edition placed a particular emphasis on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), inviting participants to transform electronic waste into useful, innovative objects with distinct added value. Furthermore, the campaign featured an open-themed category, welcoming any proposal related to the reuse of materials within the company.
Awards
The awards ceremony was attended by José Manuel Martínez, CEO of Eiffage Energía Sistemas and Eiffage’s delegate for Spain and Portugal; Ramón Gero, Head of Synergies in the Sustainability and Innovation Department and Patricia Royo, Sustainability and Cross-functional Innovation Engineer.
The award-winning employees were:
Category: Waste – Electrical and Electronic Equipment
- 1st Prize: Donation of equipment to people in need – Jaime García López
- 2nd Prize: Old mobile phone converted into a security camera – Alberto Robles Carrillo
- Runner-up 1: Re-Power Brick – Adrián Quintana
- Runner-up 2: Panel with motherboard – Juan Vicente Luís Núñez Picazo
Open Category
- 1st Prize: A Second Life for Workwear – Amparo García Medina
- 2nd Prize: New safety signage made from reused pallets – José Antonio Palma Lazarte
- Runner-up 1: Fruit bowl made from an expired helmet – Reyes Geniz Jaén
- Runner-up 2: Fire-resistant pencil holder – José Martínez Hernández
These winning proposals have now entered an internal implementation process within the company, with the ultimate goal of transforming these ideas into tangible initiatives that add value while driving innovation and sustainability.
Strategic Plan for Cross-Functional Innovation
The Sustainability and Cross-Functional Innovation department drives various initiatives within the Strategic Plan for Cross-Functional Innovation to identify new opportunities and projects that can be developed internally.
Among these is this participatory innovation programme, which is open to the entire workforce and focused on addressing specific challenges. While the inaugural edition focused on developing proposals related to low-carbon solutions, this second edition consolidates the campaign’s role in launching new annual challenges linked to innovation across the company’s diverse areas of activity.
Through initiatives like “This is Not Waste”, Eiffage Energía Sistemas reinforces its commitment to collaborative innovation, sustainability, and the active involvement of its workforce in building a more responsible and circular model
