Earth Plus

Love Tomorrow Countdown [8/16] 🚀 THE ENCHANTMENT WHEN SCIENCE AND IMPACT ENTREPRENEURSHIP MEET Climate, Biodiversity, Circular economy, Flourishing local economies, … When we think Big and Forge broad Coalitions of the Willing between entrepreneurs, industries, science, and policy, we can tackle multiple challenges simultaneously. The future belongs to collaborative ecosystems. Discover the unique synergy between impact entrepreneurship and science with Inge Neven, leading lady at VITO and Elena Doms, the soulsister behind Earth Plus, the Flemish Alliance for Nature-Based Solutions. Embrace a mindset of collaboration and create your own Force of Change! Discover the full timetable of Love Tomorrow 2024 and make sure you don’t miss a thing: https://lnkd.in/ew8uXbPW Let's create a future we can all fall in love with ❤️🧡💛💚💙 #naturebasedsolutions #coalitionsofthewilling #ecosystemthinking #climate #biodiversity #circulareconomy #BigNature #collaboration #powerwomen #leadership

Today we got a visit by Trends Kanaal Z to shoot some footage on different aspects of what we do at C-biotech and Earth Plus Focus was on our #mycelium lab, run by colleague Andy Cartier, where we grow the #insulation material of the future of the #construction sector. Say what, grow insulation? Indeed, we use chopped #industrialhemp shives, sterilize them and add the fungus we want to grow. We mix this substrate thoroughly and then put it inside a mold that has the shape we need the insulation panel to be. Then nature takes over and grows to the full panel in a matter of days, upon which we need to kill the organism and dry the panel. The panel is the core of our #biobased, #circular and #sustainable sandwich panel. More on this in a next post soon. The lab scale environment allowed us to test a lot of degrees of freedom, and now we are taking the next steps with partners to take the production to industrial scale. More to come on this soon. Here are some pictures of "the making of". Check out Kanaal Z at 8pm this evening to see the full version. This is all a part of our mission to turn the construction sector from a large carbon emitter into a large carbon sink. And in this way initiate the transition for oilbased to biobased! Frederik Verstraete Gunnar Nopens Elena Doms Andy Cartier Filip Cordeel

Campus Vesta en C-biotech hebben vandaag hun proefproject voorgesteld, waarbij PFAS door middel van wilgen, hennep, enzymen en schimmeldraden uit de grond wordt gehaald. Het saneringsproject is dankzij zijn totaalaanpak uniek in de wereld. PFAS wordt niet alleen in de bodem, maar ook in het grondwater aangepakt. Behalve met hennep zoals elders al gebeurt, worden hier ook wilgen, enzymen en mycelium (netwerk van schimmeldraden) ingezet voor de sanering. De wilgen zuigen het vervuilde grondwater op; de hennep pakt vooral het minder diepe deel van de bodem aan. Bij beide planten wordt de PFAS opgeslagen in het blad. Het project biedt een triple win: behalve het saneren van bodem en grondwater levert het een bijdrage aan de circulaire economie. De PFAS-vrije stengels van de hennep kunnen immers worden gebruikt als grondstof voor circulaire bouwmaterialen. Bovendien wordt ook CO2 in de planten opgeslagen, wat dan weer nuttig is in de strijd tegen de klimaatopwarming. Deze natuurlijke saneringsmethode heeft ook als voordeel dat ze volledig op zonne-energie werkt en er dus geen pompen of andere energiebronnen nodig zijn. Nadeel is dat het veel tijd vergt, soms meerdere jaren. Erik De Bruyn, projectmanager bij C-biotech en gewezen milieudeskundige van de stad Antwerpen, is hoopvol over het experiment op Campus Vesta, autonoom provinciebedrijf van Provincie Antwerpen. “Dit project heeft de ambitie om uit te groeien tot het leidende Europese living lab in Europa. We passen de meest geavanceerde technologie toe zoals drone-monitoring van de groei van de planten en van de PFAS-opname, state of the art grondwatermonitoring en analysetechnologie.” “Het project kadert in een wereldwijde aanpak die voor bodem- en grondwatersanering vergelijkbaar is met wat Ocean Clean Up betekent voor de oceanen.” Meer info lees je op onze website 👉https://lnkd.in/e7h3RTVz C-biotech werkt voor dit project samen met nationale én internationale partners, waaronder Earth Plus, VITO, Inagro vzw, Antea Group Belgium, iFLUX , SGS, DEME Group, Bertels B.V. en Microsoft.

Together with Gautam Dandona and Jay Mehta of GDP BioTech SPRL their very promising catalyst to the hemp fields at Campus Vesta and to make the products of Bertels B.V. even better and remove #PFAS #biobased_solutions ! Niels Vandenberk Kris Heirbaut Frederik Verstraete Elena Doms Ingmar Nopens farideh yarahmadi Kristof Severijns C-biotech

Dutch air bases heavily contaminated with PFAS for years. Investigations have revealed that the Gilze-Rijen airbase and 11 other sites of the Dutch Ministry of Defense are heavily contaminated with PFAS. The levels exceed those found near notorious pollution sites, such as Chemours in Dordrecht and 3M in Belgium. 1. Highest recorded levels Toxicologist Jacob de Boer reported PFOS levels 56 times above the permitted limit. This makes it the worst PFOS contamination in the Netherlands, apart from the Leeuwarden airbase. 2. Delayed reporting and costly clean-up Although the problem was identified as early as 2013, the authorities did not report it until 2022. The cleanup of pollution, which was caused by extinguishing foam, is expected to cost millions. 3. PFAS problems in a broader sense PFAS contamination affects various sectors in the Netherlands, from hobby hen eggs to seafood from the Westerschelde estuary, which has led to calls for stricter EU regulations. That’s why we are working on nature-based solutions to clean mildly contaminated PFAS areas. Get in touch if you have a PFAS pollution problem. C-biotech Frederik Verstraete #sustainability #nature #soils

10 days after seeding! 🌱 Isn’t nature amazing? We love seeing how hemp is growing on our partner farmers’ fields! 🤩 #soils #nature Kristof Severijns Frederik Verstraete

Welcome at Campus Vesta PFAS cleanup project! Campus Vesta is a training ground for emergency services. They protect our lives, but they have to deal with ‘forever chemicals’. Now we are working together to clean these chemicals up! The video will show you everything. Why is it important? Because we have so much pollution across Europe (https://lnkd.in/eua27eZC), the US (https://lnkd.in/gExr6pJK) and all around the world. And we have to clean it up. This is how. Huge thank you to Brandweer Zone Antwerpen, Campus Vesta, Provincie Antwerpen, C-biotech, Kris Heirbaut, Nature herself and so many more for making this a reality! #sustainability #nature #soils Pieter Van Turnhout Bert Brugghemans Sabine Deman Erik De Bruyn Jan De Haes Frederik Verstraete Elena Doms

🌱 Hemp remediation of abandoned mine soils! A study by Rabab Husain & colleagues investigated the phytoremediation potential of industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) on abandoned mine soils in Pennsylvania. 6 hemp varieties were tested in different soil types and environments. The study found that hemp grown in contaminated soils had a high tolerance to heavy metals and a significant increase in cannabidiol (CBD) content compared to control soils. This suggests that hemp has the potential to both remediate the soil and increase cannabinoid production. 🌱Nature is very powerful, let's take help from nature itself to clean what we polluted. 🔬Research on industrial hemp consistently emphasizes its various benefits: - By absorbing heavy metals from contaminated soil, hemp not only cleans up the environment but also increases the production of valuable compounds which can be used in biobased products. - This makes hemp an ideal candidate for sustainable agricultural and industrial practices, offering both environmental and economic benefits. Full research here: https://lnkd.in/gF6xaAk #sustainability #soils #hemp

🎾 From discarded padel & tennis balls to acoustic insulation! Did you know: 350 million tennis & padel balls are thrown away each year? But our colleagues love padel! So they found a solution! In 100 clubs in Flanders, Belgium you will soon find these bins! They are for collecting old balls. These balls will be turned into acoustic insulation. With a help of a secret ingredient: mycelium. 🍄 This project is possible thanks to a collaboration of fantastic partners: Keytrade Bank, Tennis en Padel Vlaanderen, SAGAS, Wase Werkplaats vzw, Trafiroad NV and C-biotech! Now you can give your balls a second life! 🎾 And if you aren’t sure which bin it is, just look for Earth Plus logo on the side! #sustainability #padel #circulareconomy

Hoe kunnen boeren en bouwbedrijven samenwerken voor een duurzame toekomst? 🌿🌍🚜 [English below] In mijn boek #Provotyping duik in de wondere wereld van eenhoorns, zebra’s en feniksen en kom daarbij heel gauw bij Earth Plus terecht, de Vlaamse Alliantie voor Nature-Based Solutions. Met het verhaal achter +Earth+ open ik het hoofdstuk "Coalitions of the Willing". Je ontdekt hoe industriële hennep, de onbezongen held van het plantenrijk veel Co2 kan capteren, de bodem kan herstellen en de bouw kan revolutioneren. Wat nature Based Solutions kenmerkt is de meervoudige stapel aan meerwaarden op vlak van klimaat, ecologie, gezondheid en lokale economie. Ontdek het verhaal van Elena Doms, Frederik Verstraete, Ingmar Nopens, VITO en een brede schare andere organisaties vanaf pagina 129 😉📕 #DuurzameToekomst #NatureBasedSolutions #Innovatie [English] How can farmers and construction companies collaborate for a sustainable future? 🌿🌍🚜 In my book Provotyping, I dive into the fascinating world of unicorns, zebras, and phoenixes, and quickly arrive at Earth Plus, the Flemish Alliance for Nature-Based Solutions. With the story behind +Earth+, I open the chapter "Coalitions of the Willing." You'll discover how industrial hemp, the unsung hero of the plant kingdom, can capture a lot of CO2, restore the soil, and revolutionize construction. Nature-Based Solutions are characterized by multiple added values in terms of climate, ecology, health, and the local economy. Discover the story of Frederik Verstraete and Elena Doms. #SustainableFuture #NatureBasedSolutions #Innovation