Handing over first kilos of Caleyda for production to Maan Group
This week, the first kilos of Caleyda, the natural plastic substitute, were handed over to Sjoerd Jansen of Maan Group. Maan will research whether they can use this to make their grow pots for plants. This means environmental benefits as it makes the Growcoon grow pot fully circular. Joost Paques handed out the material on behalf of the partnership of water authorities, HVC and Paques Biomaterials. The demonstration plant in Dordrecht, where the natural plastic substitute Caleyda is produced, tested and optimised on a demonstration scale, has been running for a year now. Production is performed in close cooperation with all partners of the PHA2USE project. The Growcoon grow pot is a biodegradable grow pot that Maan wants to make more sustainable precisely because hundreds of millions are put into the ground every year. Since Caleyda is made completely biobased in addition to biodegradable, it seems to be the biobased solution for Maan Group.
Originally, the demonstration plant was supposed to run for a year to make enough material to test different applications. The partners jointly decided to extend the project for another year. The market prospects for the material are remarkably positive. With this demonstration plant, the cooperation partners want to build a bridge to commercial production of the natural plastic substitute. The demonstration plant will enable interested companies to test and eventually apply the plastic substitute Caleyda in their products as a natural alternative to plastic. The intention is to scale up after the demonstration phase and create larger plants that can meet growing market demand.
The demonstration plant will be developed and realised by the water authorities Brabantse Delta, De Dommel, Hollandse Delta, Scheldestromen and Wetterskip Fryslân, knowledge centre STOWA, Paques Biomaterials and HVC.
Sludge processing company Noord-Brabant (SNB), AquaMinerals, TU Delft and Wetsus (knowledge centre for sustainable water technology) support this initiative by helping us knowledge generation.
