The transformation to think in terms of value rather than cost, and to see your office as a bank of valuable resources, yields great insights
I think it is important to be able to contribute to a healthy and sustainable future, for ourselves but also for the next generations. We are actually obliged to do so. As the daughter of an antique dealer, I have, in a certain way, inherited sustainability from home. Antique objects in particular are sustainable, they retain their value and beauty due to their rarity and aesthetics. These things have been circulating for centuries, they stay in families or go to another lover. In any case, they rarely disappear into the landfill. Thus, I myself prefer to choose beautiful antique objects, which I enjoy looking at for a very long time. Antique items are always handmade, by techniques long gone. You bring a piece of craftsmanship from the past into your home; I think it's beautiful. How different is it with furniture that you can buy at the well-known furniture stores, which is often replaced after a short period of time by yet another new piece.
From my curiosity for new applications, I have become increasingly interested in sustainability and circularity. And how cool is it then when you can get started with this from your own position? There is still so much to learn about circularity and sustainability. The technology behind it is very impressive and surprises me every time ("ooooh, is that even possible?"). The whole process, from thinking about it to discovering it and then actually applying it within your company, always gives me a sense of pride. The transformation to think in value instead of costs, to see your office as a large resource bank instead of a building with stuff that disappears somewhere in the landfill after years, provides beautiful insights.
As facility manager, I am very involved in a healthy and safe working environment for our employees. And also within that context I have had the opportunity to work on several beautiful projects in the field of circularity. A few examples:
A proprietary plant pot was developed for Sweco, made from old refrigerators and residual waste. The very first pot had largely sagged due to a mistake in the production process and was actually labeled a failure. I loved it: for me, this sagging plant pot is synonymous with a learning organization and now stands as an eye-catcher in the reception area. Because the white pots with gray legs look so much like a sheep, we now call them that.
Because every week quite a bit of VGF went to the waste disposal company unnoticed, we thought that there must be another way. And we succeeded: the waste from the company catering, the coffee grounds, the fruit peelings, the bioplastic, etc., all enter our own composting machine every day and come out 24 hours later as compost. Compost that is used by our employees and customers in their own gardens.
For a long time there was a meeting room in the basement of our location in De Bilt, uninspiring because of the little daylight and the old-fashioned furniture. In itself a beautiful large room, but because of its design and appearance it was only used when there were really no other possibilities. And how different is it now? The space is now set up as an innovation space with furniture made of waste that you can place in many inspiring shapes, moss walls that invite you to touch, a cloud box, whiteboards everywhere, relaxed lounge chairs etc. etc. Actually, everywhere you look there is something new to discover. The space has become popular and is used in many ways and for many different types of meetings.
This is reflected in our beautiful projects, but also in our office environment. For example, many of the desks have a waste core, the office chairs are cradle to cradle and we collect our residual products in waste stations made from agricultural waste. The paint on the walls, the lighting, the conference tables, there is a story behind each of these items, which fits with our vision of sustainability and circularity.
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