Circular Economy Experience

Examples

• An example of my involvement in circular approaches and “plastic soup” is the “Healthy Seas – from waste to wear” initiative. Hundreds of fishermen, divers and various companies work together to clean up ghost fishing nets in European seas and to convert the usable components of those nets into products such as socks, floor coverings and swimwear. I was one of the founders of this initiative and was responsible for overall coordination for a number of years. See also https://healthyseas.org

• Another example of a circular approach is Brickz from TripleE – Natural Soil Improvement BV. Soils are badly damaged in many places in the world due to too intensive land use, fertilizer use and erosion. The Brickz soil repairer helps to improve the soil structure and to replace artificial fertilizer. In the production of Brickz, use is made of residual materials such as dredging and cuttings. The use of mycorrhiza is central to the production of Brickz. This fungus ensures that plants or trees can absorb more nutrients. Brickz help the agricultural sector to become more circular and the soils to become healthy again. As a Brickz ambassador, I help Brickz to be rolled out further in the Netherlands and other places in the world. 

• One challenging activity was the organisation of the international inititieve ‘Globalization, economy & ecology, bridging worlds’. As main coordinator I helped to achieve collaboration in Europe between sectors focused on economy, ecology and globalization. Among other things, an international congress on this subject was organized with Ruud Lubbers and Michael Gorbachev. The congress resulted in an international declaration of cooperation and a new research program. I was the leader of the congress organisation team and of the research group.

• In the framework of the theme Biodiversity & Business and Finance I developed and implemented various activities in the field of business & biodiversity, including biodiversity standards, integration of biodiversity in the financial sector and cooperation in the field of greening companies.