Neo-Eco, a Circular Economy Engineering Firm & Venture Builder

Neo-Eco is a French circular economy engineering firm and venture builder with 17 years of experience transforming waste flows into re-usable materials and products. One of its main areas of expertise is turning construction and demolition waste (which accounts for about 30% of all waste generated in the EU by weight) into recycled, secondary materials that can be used in construction and agronomy,

Workstream: Circular Materials Engineering

Neo-Eco's engineers have brought circularity to some of Europe's largest infrastructure projects, including:

• The Grand Paris Express, which is creating 200km of new metro lines in France's capital.

• The North Seine Canal, which will be a new network of inland waterways that will eventually link Paris with Brussels and Rotterdam. A 100km tract is currently being built in northern France.

• The reconstructions of Ukraine and Turkiye, two countries hit by disaster with hundreds of millions of tons of rubble that can be repurposed for new construction materials.

Workstream: Venture Building

Neo-Eco reinvests its profits into incubating and accelerating new ventures that advance the circular economy. Two noteworthy companies include NeoCem and BringBack.

NeoCem flash calcines the clay waste that results from the excavations of large scale civil works, turning it into a low-carbon cement substitute that avoids up to 90% CO2 emissions per unit of traditional clinker cement that's replaced. It now runs a fully operational plant to the north of Paris, calcining the clay it receives from the excavations of the Grand Paris Express.

NeoCem's first calcined clay factory, 30km north of Paris

BringBack regenerates lead-acid batteries back to their original state, thereby avoiding the need to even recycle them. The company has a fully operational plant in northern France that regenerates thousands of batteries per month in partnership with major auto companies.

BringBack regenerates lead-acid batteries back to their original state

Our Work

Neo-Eco has traditionally focused on the French market, but is increasingly looking to expand its impact abroad not only via the firm's consulting engagements, but also via joint ventures and FDI.

Three Mast Group is assisting in this process, helping Neo-Eco to do the following:

• Refresh its sales and marketing materials for a more international audience

• Secure export subsidies

• Define target markets for expansion

• Engage with the media and secure positive press

• Build relationships internationally with potential clients and partners, including local and national governments, development agencies and banks, industrial conglomerates, and large infrastructure firms

• Engage with the investors in target markets

• Use R&D grants as a way to expand internationally

Sample Results

We have helped secure:

• A partnership with world leading architecture firm Gensler, which led to a winning submission to the Norman Foster Kharkiv Housing Challenge for Ukraine's reconstruction

• High traffic media placements that furthered Neo-Eco's work in Ukraine

• Jumpstarted NeoCem's international expansion strategy

• Vetted joint venture partners with companies outside of France

• Joint European R&D grant submissions with some of Europe's biggest infrastructure projects and assets, like the Lyon-Turin Base Tunnel and the Valencia Seaport

• Research partnerships with city administrations around Europe

• Commercial pitches to the public companies and administrations behind mega projects around Europe.