BioBoost newsletter December 2017 No Images? Click here Vegetable and fruit waste are raw materials for developing new products. That was the most important statement at the BioBoost seminar organised by BioBoost partner NIAB in Cambridge, on 10 November last. The main goal of this seminar was sharing knowledge and experience in the economic utilisation of green horticultural waste flows. Seminar December 12: Insect weekThe possibilities with insects are abundant and keep growing. This is why there is an increasing interest within various fields. These small insects are great waste processors and contain high quality proteins, fats and chitin. They are already being processed in human food and have recently been introduced to the aqua culture.Even cosmetic companies and other industrial processors use insect chitin for multiple applications. Van Vliet Contrans becomes RenewiVan Vliet Contrans has been well-known in Westland for over 70 years. Most people will know them, with their characteristic red trucks and containers. Early 2017, the mother company Shanks merged with Van Gansewinkel. This was the start of a new waste-to-product company: Renewi. Both companies enhance each other, which means they can be even more ready for the future. This year, they've worked hard on rebranding from Van Vliet Contrans to Renewi. You can see this on the premises, the trucks and the containers, which show less red and continuously more Renewi blue. The employees and premises will stay the same, so not much will change for their customers. What will change are the offered services; strengthened and broadened by the cooperation. From tomato fibres to cardboard‘We’ll always innovate’ The process still has to be optimised, but tests show promising results: adding tomato fibres to the production of cardboard, makes the cardboard stronger. BioBoost helps by establishing new contacts between entrepreneurs and science. Five questions for Nathalie Donkers, KAM-manager of Renewi. Why are you a BioBoost partner? Creating value from waste flowsDuring these dark days of the year, it’s best to shine as much light as possible. With that idea in the back of their heads, VIVES organised the first Light-Up café of the academic year. It took place on November 17 in the VIVES Innovation Centre in Kortrijk, Belgium. ‘Creating value from waste flows’ was the first theme in the sequence. The speakers examined several different angles, such as examples of waste flows in the feed industry, as well as the metal and textiles industries. Networking during the Entrepreneurs’ Platform of Plant ProductsMid-September, 12 entrepreneurs came together to share knowledge and experiences about plant products. Peter Olsthoorn from Pothosplant updated the attendees on the crop Dioscorea. This crop develops small bulbs on its root and stem, which contain substances with an anti-obesity function. Other subjects were experiences with cultivation, the cultivation system, the harvest and the necessary trajectory to get Diascorea acknowledged as a natural medicine, in order to release it to the market. |