Young Professionals from Hospitality Group play an important role in the future move toward a circular economy and waste-free society.
On Friday, September 20, Hospitality Group's Young Professionals were guests at the inspiring 'TRIBOO' at Marc van der Heijden's home in Zevenhuizen. This TrendCenter showcased various products from Marc's circular businesses. Marc is founder of TRIBOO and EverUse: two innovative companies focused on upcycling waste. For example, using a 3D printer, they have transformed old refrigerators into the world's largest plant pot and produced a bathtub made of 100% meltable rubber. With this innovative production process, Marc has a unique business model and is therefore number 20 in the 2019 sustainable top 50!
About four years ago, Marc founded TRIBOO. TRIBOO is a company that turns waste into circular furniture. According to Marc, toxic substances are still present in almost every piece of furniture due to the use of cheap material designed for one-time use. A valuable product is only truly circular when it is made from reusable healthy fibers from waste streams and does not contain toxic substances.
The office is actually a resource bank, where valuable materials are temporarily stored in the furniture.
That means no more "unhealthy" furniture, but furniture that, like gold and silver, is given a value. This value is in the raw materials incorporated in the furniture. When you purchase a piece of furniture from TRIBOO, they retain ownership of it. When the customer needs something else after a number of years, the customer can return the furniture to TRIBOO and gets the raw material value back. This allows the raw materials to be reprocessed into circular products.
On January 23, 2019, the EverUse factory in Sneek was festively opened by King Willem-Alexander. EverUse is a company that makes circular insulation material from paper waste. This makes EverUse the first circular insulation factory in the world! In the production process, EverUse uses natural cellulose fibers, which are extracted from paper waste. This makes the materials soft and harmless to the respiratory system. Like TRIBOO furniture, EverUse supplies its products using the principle of circular procurement. At the end of the life cycle, the customer returns the product and EverUse reuses it completely. Thus EverUse also retains ownership of the raw material. A great initiative that gives certainty that waste will never be thrown away again.
Marc indicates that the facilities manager plays an important role in the future development towards a circular economy and waste-free society. This does mean something for your operations and this has to be facilitated. The facility manager must turn the switch and eventually people will have to change their behavior. What Marc wants to pass on is: if you believe in it yourself, don't let anyone stop you.
In addition to a tour and presentation by Marc van der Heijden, the theme of the day was Design Thinking and personal development. Colleague Judith Dorlandt of Hospitality Group explained what Design Thinking stands for, how it works in practice and what the advantages are. The essence of Design Thinking is that solution directions are determined with brainstorming sessions, after which you immediately make a prototype with this methodology and test the solution in practice. After this short presentation, the Young Professionals started working with Design Thinking themselves. Full of energy and enthusiasm, they started with the question of how waste can get a second life in the clubhouse of Hospitality Group. The first hand has been laid on a product prototype (made from waste) that will be further developed in the coming weeks.
.jpg)
.jpg)
