The Golden Lightbulb winner PAKT: Circular glass

Connected to the Gerard & Anton Awards, there’s also the prize for the most promising student team: the Golden Lightbulb. The prize is supported by RoundOne Ventures, which provides funding for promising student teams that wish to take their first steps as a start-up.

This year, the Golden Lightbulb (“Het Gouden Peertje”) again shines in recognition of the most promising student start-up. The bar remains high after last year’s success, in which Aristotle earned the award by providing innovative solutions to top athletes such as PSV. This year’s winner shares the same brilliant traits, with impressive partners and an unstoppable ambition that enables student entrepreneurs to dream and achieve big.

Glass packaging

Winner PAKT creates a circular return system for glass packaging. This may seem obvious, but we need new technologies to make glass packaging reusable. In cooperation with partners, PAKT is building the necessary return logistics for collection, sorting, cleaning, inspection, and distribution.

The numbers don’t lie: ​​A reusable glass container emits significantly less CO₂ than a single-use one. If we reuse the 28 kilos of glass thrown away per person annually, we save 25 kilos of CO₂ per person. This equals 4500x charging your mobile phone, driving 229 km with an average Dutch car, or half a month of electricity for one household. 

Not just theory

This is not just theory. PAKT has already tested the potential impact of its solution. “Together with 19 partners, we collected glass from 1000+ households over three months. In total, more than 40,000 glass containers were collected. With this glass, we conducted all kinds of tests. For example, the technical feasibility of automated sorting and the degree of cleaning that could be achieved.”

PAKT was born at the universities of technology in Eindhoven and Delft. Currently, the student engineers have built a pilot plant in Woerden. Their motto: “Most people are willing and open to change.”