Call for Louth people to nominate their circular living champions

Is Louth home to some of the circular living champions of Ireland? A new national initiative – The Full Circle Awards – is aiming to find out.

The awards scheme is a national celebration of Ireland’s unsung heroes of the circular economy. It is now open for people from Louth to nominate someone they feel is making an extraordinary impact in their community by promoting reuse, repair, recycling, and sustainable living.

The Full Circle Awards is a new initiative under Circular.ie, a project dedicated to informing, engaging and enabling Irish citizens to participate in and benefit from the circular economy. Circular.ie is run by The Rediscovery Centre, Ireland’s National Centre for the Circular Economy.

Award Categories

Nominations for people from Louth for the Full Circle Awards are now open across six inspiring categories:

1. Repair and Reuse ChampionFor individuals who regularly repair, repurpose, or extend the life of items — including clothing, tools, furniture, or electronics.

2. Community Circular ChampionHonouring people who lead or support community initiatives like sharing libraries, swap events, food waste solutions, or local repair cafés.

3. Creative Circular ArtistFor those who transform waste materials into art, furniture, décor, or other creative expressions through upcycling.

4. Circular Living AdvocateFor individuals who live by and promote zero-waste, low-impact lifestyles — including educators, content creators, and everyday role models.

5. Best Community CampaignShining a light on the best campaigns that Circular Economy community groups are running in Ireland.

6. Young Circular Star (Under 18)Celebrating children or young people leading the way in sustainability and circular thinking — in school, at home, or in their community.

The winner from each category will receive a prize of €2,000, as well as the opportunity to receive dedicated, expert communications mentoring for their circular initiatives. 

Launching the awards, CEO of The Rediscovery Centre, Claire Downey said:“The Full Circle Awards are about recognising everyday heroes from Louth and across the country who repair, reuse, and rethink how we live.

“We all know someone living sustainably, even if they wouldn’t describe themselves as ‘circular’. These awards celebrate the ordinary people in Louth doing truly extraordinary things. It might be a grandmother teaching her grandkids how to sew and mend clothes; a teacher showing their students DIY repair skills; or a group of neighbours who have come together to share garden tools. People across the country are already taking circular action and, through these awards, we want to shine a light on their work and inspire even more change.”

A distinguished and diverse panel of experts in sustainability, the circular economy, and environmental innovation has been appointed to the Full Circle Awards judging panel.

The panel includes: 

• Manchán Magan (chair), an Irish writer, traveller, author, and television programme maker.
• Dr. Dave Robbins, Assistant Professor in the School of Communications at Dublin City University, whose research and teaching focuses on environmental communications and media coverage of climate change.
• Jo Linehan, editor of The Sunday Times Ireland CLIMATE supplement and sustainability columnist for Irish Country Magazine. 
• Mary Fleming, founder of Change Clothes, a creative reuse initiative. 
• Tom Watts, Head of Design at the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland, and;
• Claire Downey, CEO, Rediscovery Centre.

Together, they will adjudicate and select the winning entries for this year’s Full Circle awards.

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Circular economy behaviours include repair, reuse, waste prevention, sharing or renting a product, maintaining the quality of a product, refurbishing and upcycling, composting and recycling. The aim of the circular economy is to keep items in use for as long as possible, maximising their value while minimising, or preventing entirely, the generation of waste and pollution.

Nomination Details

• Nominees must be based in Ireland and not employed full-time in a professional sustainability or environmental role.
• The ‘Young Circular Star’ category is open to those aged 10–17, with parental or guardian consent.
• Nominators must have personal or direct knowledge of the nominee’s contributions, and nominees must be aware they are being nominated.
• The deadline for entries is 5pm on Friday, 25th July 2025.

Submissions can be made through the online form at www.circular.ie/full-circle-awards.