Top honours for Machine Compare at Reuters Responsible Business Awards

The prestigious event, which celebrates leadership in sustainable business, took place on 13 October 2022 in London. The award solidifies Machine Compare’s position as a pioneer for solutions that put people and the planet first.

The judges favoured Machine Compare’s submission because, at its core, Marketplace addresses the SDGs directly. They noted that “the conversation about electronic waste can be abstract, yet this initiative is practical with the potential to scale.” They also commended Marketplace for having “incredible potential.”

Speaking on the recent win, Ben Findlay, CEO and cofounder of Machine Compare, said: “Winning an award like this makes all the difference – it helps us raise awareness at C-level with international businesses so that we can get a foot in the door. This, in turn, supports our ongoing mission to clean up the world’s supply chains by recirculating green parts.”

Now in its 13th year, the Responsible Business Awards focus on ground-breaking sustainability strategies and recognise those that genuinely impact business, society, and the environment. The awards, which drew over 700 entries this year, are independent and adjudicated by a highly acclaimed and professional judging panel.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be the blueprint for achieving a better and more sustainable future for all. Reuters presented the SDG Pioneer Award to Machine Compare for pioneering new ways to help meet these goals at a scale that drives measurable and positive global progress.

Machine Compare Marketplace is a novel e-commerce platform that enables industrial manufacturers to trade new, refurbished, and surplus electrical and mechanical parts. The company has identified and is tackling the resources tied up in a potential €10bn worth of industrial surplus parts inventories globally before they end up in a landfill.

Since its inception, Machine Compare has aligned itself with five of the UN’s sustainable development goals. By introducing a new, circular model for industrial manufacturers to trade spare parts instead of sending the carbon embedded in those parts to landfills, the company actively supports climate action, responsible consumption and production, and innovation and infrastructure.

The runner-up in the SDG Pioneer category, InterEnergy Group’s Evergo, received a commendation for promoting regional electrical mobility in countries such as Panama, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic. The company provides a sustainable mobility model and solution to the charging of electric vehicles, making it the most extensive and sophisticated service provider in the region. Evergo’s ambitious plans are to expand with 4,000 new stations in Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, Aruba, and Puerto Rico.  

Other finalists in the SDG category included: Cargill, the agri-business ; ABInBev, the international brewer ; Springer Nature Group, the publisher ; Belkin, the consumer electronics and networking company ; Mary Kay, the beauty company ; and SecondMuse, the innovation incubator.