Dutch islands to become Cradle to Cradle

When I think of the island of Ameland, I think of cycling against the wind panting and arriving freezing cold at a holiday home called ‘Martha’ or ‘Johanna’. However, Michael Braungart, founder of the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) concept, thinks of totally different things. He pictures electric vehicles, solar panels, straw houses and complex water systems. In 2030 Ameland has to become Cradle to Cradle, as do almost all of the islands in the Wadden Sea and North Sea – about 10 of them. The first tests will start on Texel and Ameland as early as this spring.

No one stops to think about it, but in 2009, the islands still depend on the mainland for their raw materials. Moreover, obtaining fresh water is no simple task, either. The more things can be re-used on the island, the less need there is to go back and forth. It is also a logical reason to launch the Cradle to Cradle Islands (C2CI) project.

Although I mention the small island of Ameland as an example, it is no small feat, as the project, led by the province of Friesland, runs from the Shetland Islands to the Dutch Wadden Islands. Six countries and 22 partners will be working together on a Cradle to Cradle approach to water, energy and materials. No other project in the world has so many different cultures working together simultaneously on C2C.

One of the 22 partners is the Delft University of Technology. “Of course, with a project like this, electric vehicles such as foldable electric scooters come to mind very quickly. Our test model will be available soon. It can easily be carried in the train, bus and boat. For example, the prototype of the ‘re-bicycle’ will also be ready, a bicycle that is 70% made of wood, flax and thistle, the first models of which will be tested on Ameland this spring,” explains Marcel Crul, Design Project Manager for Sustainability.

One of the other speakers during the meeting was Heleen Sombekke, Project Manager at Wetsus. Since water scientists are always good for pee and poo stories, Heleen had a few stories of her own. “The demand for water on the islands keeps increasing, mainly due to an increase in tourists. Another problem is that the demand for water is always the highest when the offer is at its lowest, in the middle of the summer. You then need to look at reserves. Further extension of the groundwater extraction is not easily done, but you could build separate urine toilets, for example, or make use of a vacuum toilet. That is very interesting because concentrated urine and faeces contain very useful nutrients like phosphate and nitrogen. It is a shame to dilute that with water.”

Luckily Heleen has others stories as well. She also talks about energy from water: “In the winter, large quantities of purified sewage are dumped on mud flats. That is quite unpractical since with so much surrounding seawater, the two ingredients for ‘blue energy’ are within reach: generating energy by mixing seawater and fresh water. The possibilities are enormous.”

And then there are worms. “You can use worms to cleanse the silt out of waste water. Currently, this silt (which is actually residual waste) is transported to the mainland, all the way down to Maastricht, while we could process it on-site using worms. If we could just use them to eat a large part of that silt…”

Over the next four years, C2CI will demonstrate at a killer pace what is possible now and in the future as regards the environment. It will be small-scale with worldly ambitions, and the North Sea Islands will become an example for the rest of the world. Great plan; next time I will not bike against the wind, but hop on an electric scooter.

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Remark:
This article has been written at the request of Bright magazine in feb 09.

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