BioValue

Long description

The startup VanHier is a brand in biocircular interior products made from local natural fibers. Nature can provide us safe, healthy and renewable materials such as agricultural waste and fast-growing crops. We focus on conscious consumption, making products with a local identity.

In February 2021, we started the BioValue project. We did experiments with different types of cellulose(waste) mixed with natural residual flows.

Regarding the cellulose, there are various options such as toilet paper which is recovered from sewage sludge, paper waste and refined cellulose from elephant grass (miscanthus). Elephant grass is a fast-growing crop that absorbs a lot of CO2.

There are also various options for the use of natural fibers such as water plants, hemp, cattail, reed, grass clippings, flax and horti- and floriculture waste. We started with cattail because there is a need for value validation of this crop. In the Amsterdam region there is the ‘Innovatie Programma Veen’, research of soil subsidence prevention by wet crops. We mixed the cattail fibers with cellulose of elephant grass and noticed that the fibers add strength to the material, which we call BioM.

BioM is thermoformable, that will make it possible for designers to create organic shaped products, it can replace plastic sheet material. BioM is biodegradable, fully recyclable, not harmful to nature, climate positive and there are infinite possibilities of cellulose and natural fibers. A perfect example of a regenerative design solution.

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