While HavExpo brought together the entire seafood industry in Bergen this week, Circmar founder Espen Ramsbacher was able to reveal something he wasn't really allowed to say yet.
“We are going to win this year's circular economy hero award,” he said with a smile during the interview at the fair.
The next day it became official: Circmar AS was named "Circular Hero of the Year 2026" by the Norwegian Center for Circular Economy (NCCE).
The company has developed a circular system for reusable fish boxes and pallets for the seafood industry, with the goal of replacing much of today's disposable packaging made of polystyrene and wood.
“By 2030, 40 percent of all packaging used in the industry must be reusable,” Ramsbacher said when we spoke to him in front of his stand at HavExpo. Here, they brought a robotic arm to illustrate how the boxes will be recycled.
According to Circmar, the solutions are designed to be used at least a hundred times before the materials are recycled further. The boxes and pallets are made of recycled plastic, can be washed and disinfected for reuse, and are equipped with sensors and tracking systems that provide an overview of temperature, logistics and use throughout their entire lifespan.
The company also claims that the system can reduce CO₂ emissions by over 80 percent compared to traditional EPS boxes and wooden pallets.
An enthusiastic Ramsbacher explains how the system works in practice:
– Customers send the boxes on to the recipient or end customer. They empty them, and then we pick them up again. There we wash them, store them and send them out again. Flat-packed boxes also provide significant transportation savings. They get basically a thousand boxes in one truck. We get five thousand. That saves us five trucks just on that part, explains Ramsbacher.
The "Circular Hero of the Year" award is given to actors who show concrete results in the circular economy, reduction of emissions and smarter use of resources.
Circmar has also recently received international attention for its solutions, including winning the Seafood Innovation Award at the North Atlantic Seafood Forum earlier this year.
– HavExpo is a perfect arena for us to show our system to the industry. Here we meet many relevant, potential customers who will need new solutions in the near future.
