The timber chain project by New Economy and the province of North Holland wins the Circular Award Public!

During the second edition of the National Circular Economy Conference on February 3rd, New Economy and the province of North Holland received the Circular Award in the Public category. From 121 submissions, both the expert jury and the public selected the circular wood supply chain as the winner.

Economic value and circular added value
New Economy and Metabolic conducted a study into the potential economic value of high-quality reuse of wood from the construction and demolition industry. This study found that reusable wood alone represents an annual value of €200 million within the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. The province of North Holland subsequently commissioned Dr2 New Economy to develop several pilot wood supply chains in the region.

This approach offers many opportunities for the future. This was confirmed at the conference, where the potential of wood received considerable attention. Frans Timmermans, for example, emphasized the opportunities for timber construction, given its ability to store CO2. The jury praised the winning project as a prime example of Holland's role as a forest country. Jury chair Vet: “Wood stores CO2 for a very long time if you use it for long-term applications, for example, in construction. There's also almost no more circular material imaginable than wood.” Marten de Vries from the province of North Holland completely agrees with this: “The Netherlands is Woodland and it is wonderful to see that this chain is now really closing.”

Circular wood chains in practice
Within this pilot project, the supply chain partners collaborated. For example, 1,200 beams from the bus depot in Zaandam were dismantled and made available for new construction applications. A second pilot project is exploring how residual wood, such as pruning, branches, tops, and trunks from the city's public gardens and parks, can be reused in construction.

Public data for the market
New Economy and the province of North Holland attach great importance to removing as many barriers as possible to adopting circular solutions. Therefore, the data from this study has been made publicly available in the form of a database and a calculation model so that the market can freely use it.

Recognition of our work
Pepijn Duijvestein (director New Economy): It's thrilling to see companies seize the opportunities of the circular economy because we're highlighting the potential of new revenue models and CO2 savings. As a research, program, and consultancy agency, we demonstrate that by thinking differently and making data publicly available, businesses seize these opportunities and are willing to invest. I'm therefore incredibly proud that we can develop these kinds of programs for companies and governments, putting the circular economy into practice.

For New Economy, the completion of this project and receiving the Circular Award are a recognition of our work, which has allowed us to question our role as a consultancy. We explored how we can develop programs that connect policy and business and reinforce each other. A key factor in this is initiating supply chains with the goal of jointly shaping the circular economy. Every step in which materials are reused in a high-quality manner contributes to the realization of these chains. This is how we learn from all the projects we undertake together with our supply chain partners. The circular economy is about experimenting, collaborating, recalibrating, researching, and applying, and we are incredibly proud of this recognition of our approach!

Want to know more about this project? 
Read here the article about our nomination.
Read here the press release from the province of North Holland.
Read here the press release from the Acceleration House of the Netherlands Circular.
Read here more about the project.