Water 3.0 receives Planet Hero Award

Greentech has won the second largest sponsorship prize, receiving 60,000 euros.

Water 3.0 has won the second largest sponsorship prize at Zurich Group's Planet Hero Award, receiving 60,000 euros. The non-profit greentech convinced the jury with its process to remove microplastics from water without filters. "Solutions, especially for dealing with microparticles already present in the cycle, are still quite rare. Here, Water 3.0. offers a sound new approach to the reduction of microplastics, which entails enormous savings in water, energy and CO2," said Planet Hero jury member Katharina Reuter, explaining the decision. Björn Bohnhoff from the Zurich Insurance Group is a project sponsor for Water 3.0.

Water 3.0 started in 2012 as a university research project. The non-profit company was then founded in 2020. The process for removing microplastics is already being used in some municipal wastewater treatment plants. The researchers add a hybrid silica gel to the polluted water. The gel clumps with the microplastics and other pollutants in the water. The company is researching ways to reuse the skimmed microplastic.

More than 100 individuals, universities, associations and non-profit organizations applied for the Planet Hero Award. The prize is awarded by Zurich Insurance Group to sustainable projects. First prize went to the rrreefs association, while third place went to the "Deutschland forstet auf" project. The jury awarded a special prize to the "Carbonara" initiative of the German Schreber Youth.