2026 Bio-Circular-Green Award Recognizes Small Businesses Turning Waste into Value

Shenzhen- Three small businesses from Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; and Malaysia have won the 2026 APEC Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Award for turning food, agricultural and textile waste into economic opportunities while supporting local communities.

The award recognizes micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) whose business models advance the Bangkok Goals on Bio-Circular-Green Economy, adopted by APEC Leaders in 2022. This year’s winners were announced during the Concluding Senior Officials’ Meeting in Shenzhen on Saturday.

In Hong Kong, China, Feeding Hong Kong collects surplus stock from businesses and redistribute it through charities, serving people in need. Since 2011, the organization has rescued more than 10,000 tonnes of food, helping provide 32 million meals.

“Every day in Hong Kong, we throw away 3,000 tonnes of food, while more than one million people struggle to afford three meals a day,” said Gabrielle Kirstein, founder and CEO of Feeding Hong Kong. “We want to build an urban circular food model that can serve as a blueprint across the region.”

Indonesia’s Plana transforms rice husk, an agricultural byproduct, and plastic waste into a durable alternative to natural timber for furniture and construction, reducing pressure on forests.

“What I’m proudest of is our relationship with the farmers and waste collectors,” said Joshua Christopher Chandra, co-founder of Plana. “We buy husk and plastic from them, so the waste becomes extra income, and together we turn it into a building material that can last for decades.”

Malaysia’s Kloth Circularity, a women-led social enterprise, collects discarded textiles and repurposes them into new products. It also trains women from underserved communities in sewing and upcycling, helping them develop skills and earn an income.

“We hope our journey shows that circularity is about creating livelihoods, strengthening local value chains and generating economic opportunities,” said Sarah Kedah, co-founder of Kloth Circularity. “It cannot be achieved by one organization alone, which is why we bring together businesses, communities and policymakers to make it work.”

The three businesses offer practical models for reducing waste while creating economic opportunities that could be adapted across the Asia-Pacific.

“MSMEs make up more than 97 percent of firms across the region. When they find a way to grow sustainably, entire economies feel the difference. APEC’s role is to help their ideas reach more markets and more communities,” said Eduardo Pedrosa, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat.