TRIBOO and VanHier, two pioneering innovative companies, are introducing a spectacular local product to the Dutch furniture market. The circular tabletop #GREENGRIDZ VanHier. The perfect combination of a lightweight top construction and a healthy finish with a biolaminate made from natural waste streams from the agricultural sector and fiber crops such as grass clippings, reeds, roses, licorice, freesia leaves and sorghum.

The result of this sustainable collaboration does not lie. Both products are produced locally. The #GREENGRIDZ panel is made in Zevenhuizen with between 60 and 90% less material and 60% less CO2 emissions than traditional furniture panels such as chipboard and plywood. The biolaminate is made in Bleiswijk and is a 100% natural, thin and thermoformable material which is applied as a furniture finish with a decorative effect where the fibers remain visible. An important ingredient of the laminate is cellulose from elephant grass. Elephant grass can be harvested every year and stores four times more CO2 per hectare than trees.

The first table tops in the collection are available in 60x60 and 80x80cm sizes in both square and round shapes and various thicknesses. The standard finish consists of 6 natural color coatings, gray/brown, olive green, ice blue, sea blue, linen white, snow white and old pink.

Both companies have ambitious goals to make an impact together in reducing the 11,000,000,000 kilograms of furniture that is thrown away as fast furniture in Europe each year and 90% incinerated. There is still some way to go but important steps to continue growing have already been made.

An important step was taken last year by closing the raw materials loop for the #greengridz desk and table tops. At the end of its life, the top, including its finish, can be returned to TRIBOO. The leaf is then upcycled through a pyrolysis process into high-quality carbon that is used as a raw material for water and air filters. Thus, the sheet is 100% recycled and the waste from the furniture industry returns as a new raw material and product to the market. The step taken this year with VanHier's biobased finish is a natural and healthy finish that can be composted, recycled and reused in its own production process at the end of its life. The next step now being worked on will be to supply the laminate in larger sizes so that TRIBOO can start finishing larger tables and desks with it.

Both entrepreneurs are brimming with energy and working together to create a future without waste. Together, Marc van der Heijden, founder and director, of TRIBOO and Klaske Postma, founder and director, of VanHier want to accelerate the transition to a circular economy and society without waste for everyone by making it available today for applications in offices, stores, hotels and schools.  

NATURE: REED CLIPPINGS

The impact of too much nitrogen on nature is great: reed thrives on it, but rare blue grasslands, quaking bogs and peat moss reed beds suffer. Nature reserves, including De Nieuwkoopse Plassen, are losing characteristic plants and animals. Therefore, Natuurmonumenten mows from August through April and is busy all year draining it through the waterways. About 6,000 tons of reed cuttings are released annually from the Nieuwkoopse Plassen, most of which is composted. Reed cuttings contain more lignin than grass cuttings, making them a good raw material for building materials.

PUBLIC SPACE: GRASS CLIPPINGS

The grass clippings come from Hollandse Delta Water Board; they dispose of more than 10,000 tons of clippings each year. This mainly goes to the composter, but the water board wants to use and value it more highly. The grass is shredded into usable fibers.

HORTICULTURE: FREESIA LEAVES

The freesia is a tuberous plant and is grown year-round in greenhouses for its flower. After planting the tubers, leaves grow from them first and later a main stem and two to three side stems which are harvested at the bud stage. The dried leaf and stem remnants are baled to form a dry residual flow of about 60 tons per year which is disposed of. A nice, clean raw material for the panels.

HORTICULTURE: ROSE WASTE

Every year, 140,000 tons of horticultural waste is burned or composted in the Greenport West-Holland region. Sorting roses by the grower creates cutting waste and rejects. All parts of the rose can be incorporated into the biolaminate, a scalable solution.

FIBER CULTIVATION: BULRUSH

Lisdodde is a wet crop that helps reduce land subsidence in the peatland area and contributes to sustainable agriculture with reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions from peat soils in the Netherlands are estimated at 5 to 6 megatons of CO2 equivalent per year. This amounts to 2-3 % of the total emissions of the Netherlands. Moreover, wet cultivation offers opportunities as an additional earnings model for farmers in the peatland areas. Lisdodde is a light and airy fiber, suitable as a strong fiber for biolaminate.

FIBER CULTIVATION: SORGHUM

Sorghum is grown mainly in Africa, Central America and South Asia. There is also a sorghum variety that does well in the Netherlands. The seeds of the crop are edible, you can brew beer from it, it can be used as animal feed and sheet material. The roots shoot deep into the soil, allowing soil life to regenerate. In the Netherlands, the crop is suitable as a rotation crop and is most similar to corn in terms of cultivation.

FIBER CULTIVATION: ELEPHANT GRASS

A key ingredient in the biolaminate is cellulose that is extracted from elephant grass through a sustainable process. This grass is also known as miscanthus and is one of the promising building crops. Elephant grass can be harvested every year and stores four times more CO2 per hectare than a hectare of forest.