Successes in the Fibre Sector Fibres and textiles make up a substantial portion of the materials and products in the Netherlands, and these are used in a variety of sectors, from clothing and upholstery, to industrial filters and transportation products. In 2019, a total of 5,973 kton of textile was available in the textile industry …
Exciting week in Brussels It has been an exceptionally exciting week in Brussels, with significant legislative developments. After the Council had already agreed to the reached agreements, three crucial legislative proposals were discussed in the European Parliament: the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, the Repair Directive, and the Packaging Regulation. Fortunately, the European Parliament also …
The time has come! The European directive to restrict the use of Single Use Plastics goes into effect today. We use 19 million disposable plastic cups and plates daily in the Netherlands, which will hopefully change after today. Which rules apply to you depends on the situation. In any case, there is a big push …
World Circular Economy Forum in Helsinki brought refreshing insights and generated much-needed publicity for our activities, especially around circular plastics. Sven Jurgens represented Chemport Europe and Greenwise Campus Circular Plastics. Supporting innovative entrepreneurs During a joint session by Holland Circular Hotspot and Nordic Circular Hotspot, it became clear that a lot is already being tackled …
This week, Sven Jurgens is participating in the World Circular Economy Forum in Helsinki. He is representing Greenwise Circular Plastics and Chemport Europe. Sven wants to highlight circular and biobased plastics developments in the Northern Netherlands. He also hopes to be inspired by other initiatives and to gain European contacts for further collaborations, so our …
The European Plastics Distributors Association asked us to draw a carbon footprint for their anniversary conference. They wanted to offset the CO2 emissions caused by their members’ travel to their conference. They told us they were also looking for a reliable and European project to offset. We did the calculation for them and also proposed …
How can PHA-based biopolymers and PHA blends with natural fibers be better optimized for injection moulding? What opportunities and challenges arise in the application of PHA in injection moulding? What are the experiences of the project partners regarding application in existing processes, product ranges and LCA? These and other questions will take center stage at …
Starting this month, there will be a deposit on cans! But it will still take a few months before we will notice the effect of this measure. First, all the ‘old’ cans have to be sold before cans with the deposit symbol will be available. But, the change has been made! We at Ecoras are …
Donker Groen Groningen donated this apple tree to us, as a thank you for the weekly clean-up round we do on our Winschoterdiep industrial estate. We enjoyed planting the tree and hope it will bear much fruit. Hopefully we can treat ourselves to apple pie at the end of summer after the No Waste Work …
You probably know them, the bed pads at hospitals, rehab centers or doctor’s offices. But did you know that these bed pads are in the top 10 environmental impact hotspots in an Intensive Care Unit. At UMCG alone, 890 underpads are used per day! That’s 325,000 per year, and we’re only talking about one of …
Companies approach us for a wide variety of issues surrounding their sustainability goals. Some of them want to know what has the heaviest environmental impact within their company. Others are looking for a biobased alternative to a fossil resource. Our goal is to make companies’ circular ambitions a reality. That is why we have specialized …
Laws and regulations are a big part of the transition to a circular economy, but for many companies and organizations this is a complex part (e.g. CSRD Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive). M&G Group encountered this as well. “We were increasingly getting questions about what materials our products contain and what that means if you want …
Anyone talking about the transitions that await us in the future quickly thinks of the energy transition and the circular economy. But much more is needed to shift to a more sustainable world. One example is the protein transition: sustainable food supply that includes the production and consumption of proteins. We are happy to explain …
For two weeks now, Ecoras has been picking up litter daily during its lunch break. This time, Ecoras has added an extra goal to the action, which is to investigate how colleagues experience the cleanup in order to eventually start a movement. A first step has been taken, as business association Groningen ZO has already …
Most wool does not get the use it should. In fact, a lot of wool is burned or shipped for mostly very low-grade uses elsewhere in the world. What a waste of such a beautiful natural product. We therefore asked ourselves what is in wool, what we can use as a natural raw material and …
Did you know that the healthcare sector is responsible for 328 million kilograms of waste (CLO, 2020) and 7% of the Netherlands’ total carbon footprint (Gupta Strategists, 2019)? Of the waste that is released, some must be incinerated on a mandatory basis. Unfortunately, this also happens with a lot of plastic, although this is not …
Jonathan Salt-Waninge is the PHA expert within Ecoras. For years he has been working on the development of the biopolymer PHA. The fact that PHA is truly biodegradable and, not like other biodegradable plastics (like PLA), only degradable in a composting plant, is what makes it so promising. Jonathan works in several research projects around …
During our lunch breaks this month, we will once again be taking a walk with the pick sticks. All of our colleagues will spend a month collecting litter they come across. We are curious to see what we find next, where the litter hotspots are and whether they are the same as November, or different. …