"If it feels right, I'll take it on" Entrepreneur Marc van der Heijden can't be categorized.
No Frisian Elfstedentocht this year, but there was a short period of time for skating. Some skaters swear by newspapers under their sweaters, because they insulate so well in the harsh cold. It is perhaps no coincidence that a solution for making insulation from waste paper has come from Sneek. During his first project, Marc van der Heijden of office furnisher TRIBOO was asked whether they could make circular waste bins as well as circular walls. This brought him to Sneek where he started the company EverUse. After five years of further development, the 100% circular insulation material made from old paper and cardboard is on the market. With a visit by King Willem Alexander to the factory in Sneek as a festive start.
Van der Heijden: "Every year, every Dutch person throws away seventy kilos of paper. We asked ourselves: 'what if you could upcycle that waste into a circular product?' Using natural cellulose fibers, we now make insulation mats in Sneek. These are one hundred percent reusable. There are no harmful substances in them and that makes the product extremely suitable for sustainable and healthy buildings. What's more, a 2.5-kilo EverUse mat also stores 2.5 kilos of CO2." The insulation material remains the property of EverUse. "You get money back as a user when you hand it in and the material finds its way into a new product. That way nothing is ever thrown away again." But you can do more with it than just fill walls and floors," says van der Heijden. "For example, we also make acoustic panels with it for in an office."
Furnishing offices is TRIBOO's core business. Here, too, the circular cycle is central, emphasizes Van der Heijden: "When we produce office furniture, we base ourselves on healthy, reusable materials and simple modular constructions. I always have in mind how we can optimally transform worthless waste into circular office furniture. I think like a logistician: 'how do you turn a waste cost stream into a value stream?'" In doing so, Van der Heijden works intuitively. If it feels right, he tackles it. Even if the outcome of a project is not set in stone. So it happened that for his first project for Post NL, 1,700 kilos of old postal packages had to be upcycled and transformed into eighty workplaces. It took him to a small Victorian factory in England where they could make a product from natural fibers. It became the basis for his company's success. "The source for all our circular products are waste fibers. Plastic harvested from old refrigerators, CDs, chocolate molds and soap bottles. Natural cellulose fibers from cardboard, paper, old clothing, milk cartons, straw, hemp and waste wood, among others. These raw materials are turned into panels from which we make desktops, cabinets, plant pots, lamps and kitchens. In this way, we design offices differently, store raw materials in the interior and make the circular economy visible to everyone in a high-profile way."
In the linear economy, the kitchen scores high when it comes to pollution. Kitchens are installed everywhere, never taken back and, when moving house, often replaced by the new residents. And that while it can often last for years. It is estimated that 1.5 million kitchen cabinets disappear into landfill every year in the Netherlands alone. For TRIBOO this was the reason to present the prototype of the circular kitchen during Dutch Design Week 2018. What makes it special is that it is made from the packaging of new kitchens. "The kitchen has a modular structure and each part is easily disconnected. For housing associations, we developed a special renovation kitchen. The panels are reusable and bonded with an innovative biological binder, whereby there are no toxic substances in the material such as formaldehyde. All cabinets are easy to click into place. Parts we can reproduce infinitely."
How the kitchen will fare in the future has been well thought out. If something is broken, it can be easily replaced. "The customer can scan a QR code. On the applied panels there is a tag with an NFC chip that gives access to the materials passport with background information about the materials used. We make the necessary part and with that the cue is repaired again. The code also tells us how the panels can eventually be returned. Then we turn the old kitchen into a circular one again.
TRIBOO has the wind at its back. The company is being found more and more often. The route that Van der Heijden has taken sounds like a fairy tale. But it is mainly a matter of persevering and being flexible. "With EverUse, we had first set our sights on construction, but we stopped there. In short, construction is not innovating. It's just moving too slowly." EverUse has now shifted its focus to furniture manufacturing and the acoustic industry, a direction that fits seamlessly into TRIBOO's catalog. "We can now make the most sustainable workplace. With the #GREENGRIDZ panel, we make worktops for desks and meeting tables that use sixty percent less material. Everything is produced locally and that saves more than half in CO2 emissions." Reason for many parties to seek cooperation with the manufacturer. Van der Heijden: "For example, we just did a project with Gispen. Together you can move the circular economy forward faster. A side note is that we don't just go into business with anyone. We choose our partners carefully." When asked what the reason for TRIBOO's success is, Van der Heijden doesn't have to think long. "It's not about money or business models. We find the human input particularly interesting. We've created an environment where it's okay to fail. Many companies say that you can innovate, but if you make a mistake you get scolded. With us, people are allowed to experiment. And if you fall down, you get back up."
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