SIGRE

What SIGRE does

SIGRE is a Spanish non-profit organization founded in 2001 and headquartered in Madrid that recycles medicine packaging and pharmaceutical waste to protect public health and the environment. The organization operates an extended producer responsibility (EPR) collection scheme for the Spanish pharmaceutical sector, channeling post-consumer medicine packaging and unused or expired medications from consumers through the country's pharmacy network into treatment and recycling streams. Its core operational activity involves coordinating collection points (anchored in retail pharmacies), transporting segregated waste, and processing it through licensed recycling and disposal pathways under Spanish and EU pharmaceutical and packaging-waste regulation.

SIGRE's economic model is that of a producer-responsibility organization rather than a conventional business: funding flows from pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors — obligated under EPR rules to finance end-of-life packaging management — rather than from end-user pricing. Pricing, fee schedules, and contract structures were not disclosed in the available data, and no direct revenue, budget, or financial filings were available. The organization is privately held (non-profit), headquartered in Madrid, and operates within the 11-50 employee band, consistent with a lean national coordinator rather than a vertically integrated waste-processing operator. No information on its technology stack, recycling facilities, management team, partnerships, or downstream processors was disclosed beyond the basic firmographic record.

Name

SIGRE

Website

https://sigre.es

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SIGRE is a Madrid-based, Spanish non-profit founded in 2001 that runs the country's extended producer responsibility scheme for collecting and recycling post-consumer medicine packaging and pharmaceutical waste through the pharmacy network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Pharmaceutical Waste Management

NAICS

Waste Collection (5621)

SIC

Miscellaneous Chemical Products (2890)

akta.pro primary industry

Waste Audits, Diversion Tracking & ESG Reporting (On-site Data Programs) (BPABALAL)

Keywords

• Pharmaceutical waste recycling
• Medicine packaging recovery
• Extended producer responsibility
• Pharmaceutical reverse logistics
• Eco-pharma waste management

Headquarters

HQ city

Madrid

HQ country

Spain

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Others

Core offering

SIGRE is a Spanish non-profit organization that organizes and manages the nationwide collection, recovery, and environmentally responsible treatment of medicine packaging and pharmaceutical waste. It works with the pharmaceutical industry and Spain's pharmacy network to provide citizens with a convenient channel to return empty containers and expired or unused medicines, protecting public health and the environment.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SIGRE Medicine and Packaging Waste Collection Scheme (Punto SIGRE)

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves1 record

Broad incumbents

• Stena Recycling: Major European recycling and waste management company operating across multiple waste streams including hazardous and industrial waste. Comparable to SIGRE as a participant in regulated European waste streams, though operating as a commercial entity across much broader categories.
• Veolia Environmental Services: Global environmental services and waste management company with significant hazardous waste handling capabilities in Europe. Comparable to SIGRE because it processes regulated pharmaceutical and hazardous waste streams that overlap with SIGRE's specialty area, even though it operates commercially at far greater scale.
• Citeo: France's leading packaging EPR organization, handling household packaging recycling at national scale. Comparable to SIGRE as an EPR-driven recycling scheme, though covering packaging more broadly rather than specializing in pharmaceuticals.
• Punto Verde (DSD): Germany's Duales System Deutschland, the original Green Dot packaging EPR scheme. Comparable to SIGRE as a founding European EPR organization for packaging waste, but operating at significantly larger scale and broader scope.

Direct peers

• ECOEMBES: Spanish non-profit that manages the recycling of packaging waste in Spain. While broader than pharma, it is directly comparable because it operates the same kind of EPR recycling system within the same Spanish market and regulatory framework as SIGRE.
• Cyclamed: French non-profit pharma packaging take-back and recycling organization. It is the closest functional analogue to SIGRE, running a national EPR scheme for unused medicines and their packaging in France, with a similar non-profit, member-funded structure.

Emerging players

• RetuRO Sistem Garanție Returnare: Romania's national deposit-return system administrator. Comparable as a newer European EPR-style organization for packaging recovery, providing a useful benchmark for how newer EU member-state schemes are structured and operated relative to SIGRE.

Regional players

• Valorpac: Portuguese non-profit managing industrial and commercial packaging waste recovery. It is comparable to SIGRE as a regional Iberian EPR scheme operating under similar EU packaging waste regulations, though focused on non-pharma packaging.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/puntoSIGRE

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SIGRE