arrow_back

KWS aspires to 100 percent circular infrastructure by 2040

Schiphol Trade Park, a special project in North Holland by area developer SADC :. The project is full of sustainable and circular practical examples, initiated by contractor KWS in collaboration with SADC. The company is level 5 certified on the CO2 Performance Ladder. What measures have been taken on the project and how does KWS work on sustainability and circularity?

Schiphol Trade Park, a special project in Noord-Holland by area developer SADC :. The project is full of sustainable and circular practical examples, initiated by contractor KWS in collaboration with SADC. The company is level 5 certified on the CO2 Performance Ladder. What measures have been taken on the project and how does KWS work on sustainability and circularity?


Can you briefly describe the project and the client's requirement?

Sander Rietveld, Head of the KWS business office and involved in the project as tender manager: "Schiphol Trade Park is a business park in Hoofddorp in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer. The ambition of client SADC is to make this the most sustainable and innovative business park in Europe. The client wants the park to be implemented as circular as possible, indicating a ceiling amount and the Environmental Cost Indicator (MKI) also played an important role in the tender. KWS had the lowest ECI value of all registrations and therefore the lowest environmental impact. "

Sander explains that this request is perfectly in line with KWS's sustainability mission: "As KWS, we emphasize in everything we say about circular infrastructure that we must do this together with our customers: without demand, no supply. We were therefore pleased with SADC as a client, who put forward a daring tender and gave us the space to put our sustainable innovations into practice. The Schiphol Trade Park project is a perfect example of how we put sustainability and circularity into practice by taking more and more steps together. "

Is KWS also working on circularity?

Sander: "KWS's sustainability mission is a 100% circular infrastructure by 2040 and a maximum contribution to a better quality of life for people. Realizing a fully circular infrastructure means that we want to close our raw material cycles in a high-quality manner and do not want to make use of scarce primary raw materials. It also means that we do not want to emit or cause any CO₂ or other harmful emissions. We realize infrastructure that can withstand the effects of climate change. During and after completion of a work, KWS ensures a healthy, safe environment with minimal disruption for users and our colleagues. "Sander mentions several sustainable and circular practical examples from the development of Schiphol Trade Park. "For example, all KWS equipment runs on the cleanest version of CO2-saving diesel: NextGen100. This is diesel from vegetable waste, such as cooking oil and is also called HVO: hydrotreated vegetable oil. It can save up to 89% CO2 emissions compared to regular diesel. "Sander continues:" Schiphol Trade Park is also the first business park in the Netherlands to use 100% recycled asphalt produced with KWS's HERA system. And we used biobased paving materials from Biobound. "

What are BioBound bio-based bricks? what makes the bricks biobased and / or circular?

Gert van Oort, who works at BioBound explains: "The" concrete recipe "of these bricks consists of reusing residual materials, such as old worn concrete, and elephant grass (miscanthus). "Biobased" refers to the elephant grass that grows on the edge of the Schiphol Trade Park. This grass is grown here to keep geese out of Schiphol's runways in an animal-friendly manner. A local product. The elephant grass absorbs CO2 from the air during growth and processes it in combination with water to the stem. The absorbed CO2 is stored for a longer period of time because it is processed into concrete. Due to this composition of the paving agents, the environmental profile is much lower than that of traditional concrete products. "When the paving materials ever become waste again, Bio Bound takes back the bricks, tires and tiles at the end of their useful life. For example, they can be processed into new concrete products or used in other recycling initiatives. Gert: "This method closes the cycle process as much as possible."

How does KWS ensure that the materials are reused in practice?

Sander: "All materials used are listed in the Madaster materials passport. Schiphol Trade Park is the first business park in the world to have such a passport. This passport provides insight into which materials and products have been used, the way in which materials have been processed, can be dismantled, what the market value and the future residual value is and the degree of circularity. "According to Madaster, materials need to be documented to keep them available. In this way, a building becomes a depot of materials instead of waste and it becomes easier to reuse materials. "By supplying Schiphol Trade Park with a Madaster materials passport, KWS facilitates the preservation of the value of the business park by transferring information to the future.