Greenhub Zuid-Holland and AquaMinerals have signed a Letter of Intent to jointly develop a circular grass value chain. The aim is to turn grass and green waste from public land managers into a valuable raw material, with both organisations contributing their knowledge and experience to further develop the circular grass value chain.
From green residual stream to valuable raw material
Public land managers such as water authorities, drinking water companies, municipalities and provinces manage large areas of green space. The grass and green waste generated through this work currently often has no higher-value use than composting. There is potential to do more, with benefits for biodiversity, climate goals, circularity and the responsible use of raw materials.
Achieving this requires public land managers and the market to be connected in a professional and transparent way. AquaMinerals and Greenhub Zuid-Holland are jointly exploring what is needed to achieve this and how a circular grass value chain can be organised and further developed in practice.
“The raw material is there and the market is there, but what is missing is the organisational structure. In AquaMinerals, we have found a partner that has already developed such a structure for other raw materials, and we hope to learn a great deal from their experience,” says Richard Liebrechts of Greenhub Zuid-Holland.
Learning and developing together
The collaboration is being explored from two perspectives. AquaMinerals is investigating whether grass cuttings from its shareholders – Dutch drinking water companies and water authorities – can be used as a valuable raw material. Greenhub Zuid-Holland is exploring whether and how AquaMinerals’ organisational model can be applied to the grass value chain it is developing together with public-sector partners.
The first step is to determine how much grass these shareholders have available and assess its quality. For AquaMinerals, this provides an opportunity to extend the model developed for drinking water residuals to an entirely new residual stream and further expand the services it provides to its shareholders.
“Our shareholders manage valuable green residual streams that offer opportunities for high-value applications. By combining these streams and working with Greenhub Zuid-Holland to understand what the market needs, we can better connect supply and demand. With this pilot, we are taking an important first step in discovering what works and how we can develop this further,” says Jacqueline de Danschutter, Manager Business Development at AquaMinerals.
