Natural Soil Improvement is the newest business unit within Triple E. In recent years Natural Soil Improvement has developed a product called ‘Brickz’. A European patent has been granted for this product. To this end, the organization has its own research and production facility in Huissen, called ‘Phytoraffinaderij de Groeiplaats’, where trees and biomass are also grown.
Brickz are a combination of, among other things, dredged material (better: ‘river sediment’) and mycorrhiza, supplemented with other residual flows and life (seeds, tree seeds, worm eggs, etc.). This makes Brickz an important new product within the circular economy, because river sediment is the largest waste stream in our country and is converted by means of Brickz into a product that can be used as a soil improver.
Brickz has the wind behind it, because it can replace fertilizer, and fertilizer production is becoming more and more expensive, mainly due to rising energy prices. Brickz also has the wind behind it, because the product has a circular basis, and thus contributes to the introduction of a circular economy. Brickz is not only a soil fertiliser, but above all also a soil improver, which is especially important at a time when it is becoming increasingly clear that soils in the Netherlands, but also throughout Europe, are highly affected. Soil restoration is important for production, biodiversity, water management and climate.
Rob Wolters has been a Brickz ambassador for several years, and in that capacity works closely with Tom Bade, Director of Triple E and Natural Soil Improvement. In 2021, Rob Wolters chaired a national symposium in 2021 on sustainable soil management in the Phyto refinery De Groeiplaats, in particular the results of a large project in which TripleE participated.
Rob Wolters and Tom Bade sought contacts with Bavaria Familiebrouwers in 2021, resulting in an agreement in 2022, in which it is stated that the aim is to use residual products from the beer brewing process in the brewery in Lieshout (NL) for the production of so-called BierBrickz, which can be used again for improving of the Brabant soil and the cultivation of climate trees. We are already well on the way to realisation.
Rob Wolters and Tom Bade are also jointly exploring the international opportunities for Brickz, including in relation to olive oil production in Greece. Significant strides have already been made in this area.
More information: https://www.tripleee.nl/natural-soil-improvement/ or contact Tom Bade or Rob Wolters.
