Solid furniture panels such as chipboard and various fibreboards are an integral part of our everyday lives. You see them at work in the form of furniture such as desks, tables, pantries, cupboards, walls and at home as kitchens, doors and beds. Until now, this wood material could not be reused to any great extent. Every year, 70 million tonnes of furniture end up in the incinerator for energy production. Pollutants end up in our water, air and soil and have a negative impact on the planet. Wouldn't it be great if we could stop wasting raw materials and turn them into a high-quality material that helps make our world a cleaner place? The worthless "waste" from one chain is converted into a valuable raw material for another chain.

From today on it can be different. TRIBOO closes the raw material loop and brings a disruptive circular solution to the market for worktops in the office industry. For some time now, the company has been working on a solution to use #greengridz construction panels to build furniture with less material, less CO2 and with raw materials extracted from waste streams. The philosophy behind its development is simple, the less material you use the less material you need to reuse. It doesn't get more circular than not using material.

However, the #greengridz panels also need to be replaced at some point. This is where TRIBOO comes into the Dutch market with a ground-breaking innovative solution to take back the lightweight furniture panels and turn them into a high-quality raw material for the industry. Via an upcycling technique, the non-recyclable panels can be changed into active carbon. One of the applications is filters that are used for the decolourisation, deodorisation and adsorption of air, water or toxic substances.

The benefit for customers is enormous. In addition to all the environmental benefits that a #greengridz panel already has, the end of life costs now also turn into a value stream for the owner of the panels. No more costs for processing harmful waste and sharing the profit from the proceeds of the value of the raw material. In addition, the new legislation, which in many countries already requires the recycling of treated and untreated wood, is immediately complied with. This will make an integral solution available to companies that will help them make their operations more sustainable, reduce CO2 and give practical expression to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The industrial potential will have a huge positive impact on the circular economy and energy efficiency.

The ambition, however, goes much further. Dutch buildings are full of furniture made of solid panels whose wood is bound and finished with unhealthy and toxic substances such as formaldehyde, cyanates and phenolic resin. TRIBOO will transform all the unhealthy and worthless furniture in the Netherlands into healthy and valuable circular furniture. Also the unhealthy solid panels will be taken back and replaced by healthy and circular #greengridz construction panels. Together with the customer, we are taking responsibility and step by step unhealthy furniture is easily exchanged for healthy ones.  

To facilitate the logistical return process of the panels, the raw materials HUB in Zevenhuizen was set up and put into operation. In this way, the reusable raw materials will find their way back to the manufacturer in a coordinated manner, and the raw materials cycle will be closed and safeguarded.

#greengridz, the circular furniture construction panel with a healthy mission, is going to make a difference on an industrial scale in cleaning up our planet. With its disruptive technology, circular business model and professional return logistics, it creates a beautiful synergy between the woodworking industry, the construction and furniture industry and the air and water treatment industry. The goal of creating a world in which waste replaces fossil materials has come another step closer. A win-win situation for everyone.

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