Hundreds of start-ups see the light of day every year. Many of them grow into a stable company, some fail prematurely, and a very small part conquers the world. Who are these starters, what do they want, what do they do, where do they want to go? Start Me Up delves into a world full of promises, uncertainty, perseverance, vision and hard work.
Plastic in all shapes and sizes, throw them into the Uppact machine in the Eemshaven, and you get rock-hard planks, plates and poles in return. Add some paper? A loose butt or stray staple? No problem. Plastic packaging, foil, plastic clothing, it can all be included. That sounds like a magic box, but it actually works relatively simple.
“But unique. This is the only machine in the world that can do this,” says Jan Jaap Folmer. He brought the ‘Unwastor’ from Australia to Eemshaven. “Well, we entered into a collaboration. The manufacturer of the machine wants to see if Europe is interested. I can already say that there is interest.”
20,000 tons of plastic per year
The unique machine is now located in one of the halls of ship waste processor Bek en Verburg, which is also a partner in Uppact. Next year, a model three times as large will be running in the Chemport Innovation Center in Farmsum. Folmer: “Then we can expect to process 4 million kilos of plastic per year. That is still an intermediate step. Ultimately, we will go to 20,000 tons per year in a real factory.”
Uppact is essentially not a recycling company, but a production company. The ‘Unwastor’ spits out products made from recycled plastic. Initially these are poles and planks, great for use in basic housing construction, for example, but also in infrastructure such as ports. “We are working on a kind of bumpers for a quay in the port of Delfzijl, made from waste from ships or from the port itself. But mooring posts and bank revetments can also be done. You can make anything, depending on the mold you place behind the extruder.”
What is special about this machine is that it hardly requires any external heating. Bales of plastic go in and are pressed against a rotating drum with holes. The friction and pressure create enough heat to soften the plastic without melting it. The soft plastic is mixed together under high pressure to form a homogeneous mass. And that is the unique thing, to make different types of plastic together into something homogeneous. The mass is then pressed into a mold by the extruder. After cooling in a water bath, you will have an extremely strong plank or pole.
Stay in the North
“We mix plastic at a micro level and then it does adhere to each other, while with other recycling methods it is often difficult to combine different plastic flows into a usable whole. The special thing is that pollution in the plastic offered is not that bad, as long as it remains below, say, 20 percent.”
Uppact
Who : Jan Jaap Folmer and Michel Walstock
What : Machine and process to make building material from plastic waste
Where : Eemshaven
Why : To tackle the major problem of plastic waste
How : Through (Australian) innovation and entrepreneurship
And that opens the doors to huge amounts of raw materials. A large part of our household waste still goes into the incinerator. These are often great raw materials for Uppact. “We have already made agreements with a waste processor who supplies our plastic waste. That is the power of our machine. We can use low-grade plastic waste. And there’s a lot of that in the world. What is currently a problem will soon become a raw material.”
That means having an impact, exactly what the start-up wants. “That’s how I started in Southeast Asia in 2017. After a few projects, I came to the conclusion that it was not yet economically feasible there and that it would be better to focus on the Netherlands first. A year later I came into contact with the Australian makers of the Unwastor and the ball started rolling.”
Three to four large factories
Folmer was born and raised Frisian, but has not lived in the North for a long time. “I was invited to come here and have a look with my machine and was welcomed with open arms. Bek and Verburg offered me space, the entire ecosystem helps and advises. Material is tested at NHL Stenden, NOM has invested. Then it makes sense to take the next step with a demo factory in Farmsum and then really scale up in the North.”
Now Folmer wants to move on quickly. “The financing for the demo factory is almost complete, the drawings for the larger machine are ready, and many companies have already registered. This way they get rid of their waste, which they normally have to pay to have removed. This is good for everyone. The future? I think there is room for three to four large factories in the Netherlands. We will then market the concept, so that we can process problem flows of plastic waste all over the world into the products they need there.”