Timber chain project in the final for Circular Award!

We are proud that the 'wood chains' project, for which we developed the program on behalf of the province of North Holland, has been nominated for the Circular Award Public, which will be awarded during the National Circular Economy Conference on February 3, 2020. For us, the completion of this project is a crowning achievement of our work in which we questioned our role as a consultancy firm. Partly due to Iris Grobben's master's thesis on this topic (link to this blog), we explored how we could develop programs that bring policy and business together and reinforce each other. The program we developed for the timber chain project highlights several principles that are important to our work.

Publicly funded research is public data: concrete CO2 reduction insight 
In the MRA study (Read more about the MRA study here and click here for the public database) that we conducted together with Metabolic, the data showed that not reusing wood from construction and demolition has a huge environmental impact. After validating this with the market, it turned out that most respondents indeed believe that burning wood is not the solution for this stream. However, high-quality reuse of wood offers many advantages, such as CO2 reduction. (read here Pepijn Duijvestein's blog about the opportunities of timber construction). By making data from our exploration publicly available in the form of a database and a calculation model, the market can utilize it. This allows companies to quickly analyze whether high-quality reuse of a specific stream is profitable in their region.

Focus on implementation
Within the Icon Chains of the province of North Holland, New Economy was commissioned to develop a program to leverage the market potential of wood. We continuously monitor market and societal developments, enabling us to connect the market with policy and economic opportunities. We took a practical approach. Our goal is to translate theoretical opportunities into the implementation of a circular chain, with the ultimate goal of high-quality reuse of wood and thus eliminating depreciation in the timber supply chain.

Scalable program 
To achieve this implementation, it's crucial to develop a scalable program and establish a supply chain that can grow independently after an exploratory pilot phase. New Economy therefore began an inventory of companies interested in participating. Through interviews, interested supply chain partners provided data on their current activities and opportunities for reusing wood. The next step was to translate the opportunities for local wood into four concrete supply chains, developing a public calculation model for each chain. (see here Database and calculation model for circular business).
This made it clear to all participating chain partners that by collaborating on a circular supply chain, every link can generate value and earn money. Two pilot supply chains were then launched. The first chain involved local wood from Amsterdam, which is made available through logging in the region, and a second chain for used building materials.

Opportunities for new revenue models and value creation
As an agency, we don't take the entrepreneur's place, but connect them through our program to brainstorm new revenue models and partnerships. This way, they learn the principles of the circular economy, which they can apply to their own supply chain. This way, theoretical opportunities are transformed into opportunities for their own businesses. This isn't automatic and requires adjustments from all parties involved. But once successful, examples of the new economy emerge!

Because yes, selective demolition is required, which takes more time for the demolition contractor. The material must be processed to meet requirements again and then transported to a new (storage) location. Then it must be made available so it can be used as second-hand raw material in a new design and construction process. Connecting these locally and enabling the supply chain partners to collaborate is a challenge. This is where the province of North Holland saw an opportunity to stimulate a new way of collaborating between companies in the supply chain by using the New Economy as a catalyst.

Innovative Public-Private Partnerships
We're proud that this has been successful in North Holland and that companies are seizing the opportunities. We're pleased to see that companies are responding positively and are willing to invest in establishing these chains in the region. We believe these kinds of programs represent the strength of public-private partnerships, where we test scientific data and innovation against real-world conditions, make this publicly available to the market and businesses, who then translate it into their own products, services, or business operations.

Making an impact together
Together with our clients, we achieve impact not just by talking, but primarily by making research publicly accessible and applying it. Identifying, selecting, and sharing data in this area has proven to be an effective way to encourage companies to adapt their value models. We are therefore incredibly proud that the program we developed has resulted in a nomination for the Circular Award Public and look back on a successful project in which the supply chain partners, the province of North Holland, and New Economy collaborated innovatively to make an impact with the circular economy.

Want to read more about the Houtketens project? Click here. Want to know what kind of program New Economy can develop for your chain? Mail or call with Pepijn.