We organise our actions in six thematic & strategic agendas:
Strategic Agendas:
Bio-economy
Circular Construction
Chemicals/Plastics
Manufacturing Industry
Food Chain
Water Cycles
Seven leverages provide additional support:
Leverage effects:
Lever Policy Instruments
Lever Circular Procurement
Lever Communication
Lever Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Lever Financing
Lever Jobs & Skills
Lever Research
What, why and how?
Why are we pursuing a circular economy?
Future visions 2050
How do we see our circular future?
About our management
Who steers what at Flanders Circular?
From a lot of agricultural crops used in the food industry, considerable amounts of starchy residues still flow. In potato production, for example, about half of the potatoes grown do not reach consumers. Moreover, the processing of suitable potatoes inevitably produces a lot of starchy residues. These are often simply fermented.
With the STACKS project, UC Leuven wants to investigate whether these residual flows are suitable for the development of building materials, in order to reuse them in a high-quality manner in the construction sector.
Specifically, in this project we used starchy residue streams from Agristo and Dossche Mills to develop a new bio-ecological material with suitable physical and mechanical properties. We focused on how to manufacture building blocks and decorative wall tiles from that material. Product designer Nathan Vrebos also contributed, confirming the material's wide applicability by creating various interior items with it.
UC Leuven
Partners Agristo, Duynie Holding, MEAM, KU Leuven, Kamp C, vzw Z33
Sectors
Themes
Organisations
This research will continue for another two years through a grant obtained from PWO (project-based scientific research). The production process is currently carried out at lab scale. With MEAM as a partner, we can look at how to scale up the process further. Furthermore, we want to make the production process even less energy-intensive. Additional tests on recycling, biodegradation and compostability are also included.
Finally, we want to focus more on communication, so that the right partners and stakeholders from the building sector get to know our developed materials better. We will continue to valorise the expertise on circular economy and the development of circular materials in the university college.