This article was written by the Green Growth Network from VNO NCW West and previously published here.

Circular entrepreneurship is about taking responsibility in the chain," says Marc van der Heijden, director of TRIBOO and EverUse. "In our linear economy, we think we are circular if we throw worthless products back into the office. What really matters are maximum quality and reusability."

As it is now with gold and silver, Van der Heijden believes it will soon be with waste. "Waste will have a different status and will represent a value. For the consumer, that is the signal to be more careful with things." Van der Heijden is founder of TRIBOO, a company that 'upcycled' waste into circular office furniture. He is also co-owner of EverUse, the world's first circular insulation factory, which turns paper waste into circular insulation material. He is an ambitious Green Grower who is keen to put an end to 'the industry that only thinks about money and not about people'.

Platform

"We want to further scale up and grow," said Van der Heijden. "The Green Growth network gives us a platform and links us to the larger companies. Through the matchmaker, Jolanda van Schaick, we heard about 'Startup in Residence'. With this initiative, the Province of South Holland links startups to provincial challenges. The EverUse pitch about our circular business model was very well received. The contribution that we, as Dutch makers, are making to transforming worthless waste into valuable insulation material on an industrial scale made an impression. The fact that we are radically reducing CO2 emissions with waste cellulose fibres and that we are even storing CO2 in the buildings where it is applied were the icing on the cake. The Province is now looking at how it can support us with its network and knowledge of incentive schemes for circular businesses. When you're running a business, you don't think about getting involved. Such a scheme can help us to better market the value of our circular product."

Recyclable office equipment

Recently, Van der Heijden pitched at the Building Holland event in the Rai. He presented the #GREENGRIDZ waste panels of TRIBOO. "From waste streams we make furniture panels, which form the basis for fully circular office furnishings. Our basic material consists of cellulose fibres from cardboard, roadside grass, clothing or waste wood, for example. We buy this material on the Dutch market and make customised office furniture for our customers. The furniture panels are 60 per cent lighter, 100 per cent recyclable and free from volatile and toxic substances such as formaldehyde. When the customer is tired of a piece of furniture, we take it back and return the raw material value. We pulverise the material and use it as the basis for new furniture panels." The Province of South Holland is going to rebuild and is now looking into whether TRIBOO can do a pilot project. The Province is also connecting the company with the contractor who is coordinating the renovation.

Value economy

"A product can only be circular if it does not contain toxic substances," Van der Heijden concludes. "We are going from a linear economy to a value economy. No more unhealthy and worthless products, but products that, like gold and silver, represent a value."

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