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?
Photo: Urban Crop Solutions
Urban Crop Solutions create fully-automated indoor farming systems with LED lighting. They produce local food hyper-efficiently on a small surface area, without using herbicides or pesticides.
LED lighting is the (not so) secret ‘weapon’ of Urban Crops Solutions. It emits little heat, so the lighting can be placed close to the plant. This takes up less space, allowing the plants to be positioned closer to each other. They can even be stacked: one square metre can suddenly offer more than four square metres of growing space.
The seeds in an Urban Crop Solutions system grow in a controlled climate, with adjusted supplements of minerals, and doses of extra light, temperature and CO2. The spectrum of LED lighting is set to the needs of each crop. Even the flavour can be managed using the right lighting algorithms. The fact that crops grow in water instead of soil means that herbicides or pesticides are no longer required.
The advantages:
Comparison
Traditional open field |
Greenhouse |
Urban Crops Solutions |
|
growing time | 70 days | 40-50 days |
21 days |
number of crops per m2 |
18 |
25 |
25-300 |
number of harvest cycles | according to season | according to season |
all year round |
water consumption | 35 litres | 15 litres |
1,5 litre |
pesticides/herbicides | often | less often | never |
place | open field | open field |
overall |