PLASTIC TREE PROTECTORS MADE FROM HOSPITAL WASTE

Look around you, and you will undoubtedly see something made of plastic. Although plastic production is decreasing, the material is often not recycled. It ends up in nature or is burned, releasing toxic substances. A thorn in the side of Justin Michorius. With GreenSecure, his mission is to convert plastic waste flows into forestry and tree construction solutions. He is now focusing on making tree trunk protectors from hospital waste.

A significant amount of waste is produced annually at the MST, a large part of which consists of hard plastic that is now burned. while it is reusable as a raw material. When Justin heard about this problem via Novel-T, he immediately became enthusiastic. “There are enough organizations like MST that have a clean waste stream, which is too small for large recyclers to recycle,” he explains. “That is perfect for us. For example, we can use those flows as new raw materials to make tree trunk protectors. In this way, we use the plastic waste flow for our products to positively impact the climate.”

Protection for young trees

These products are aimed at allowing trees to grow well. “We produce binding tubes to ensure that trees grow straight, which is important for newly planted trees or vines, for example,” says Justin. “But perhaps more important are the tree trunk protectors. When a young tree is planted, it is very vulnerable. When winter comes, and it starts snowing and freezing, food becomes scarcer for deer. To survive, they scrape their antlers against the trees to loosen the bark so they can still eat. This exposes the tree, and eventually, it dies. This happens to about 30 to 40 percent of the planted trees without protection. Our products give plastic waste a second life to protect nature.”

Identifying opportunities

The idea was a lucky coincidence. “I was actually at a meeting about cobots, where I met Jeroen Wevers from Novel-T. That meeting wasn’t for me then, so Jeroen and I met up again later to talk about digitalization, which led to support from EDIH. Martin Olde Weghuis, who was also working with MST in the STREAM programme at the time, was also present at that meeting. That’s how the ball started rolling. Novel-T helped us identify opportunities and ensured the right contacts at the right time.”

Dare to do

If it were up to Justin, the tree trunk protectors would only be the beginning. “How special would it be to plant an entire forest with MST using tree trunk protectors made from their hospital waste?” he fantasizes. “I want our solution to be the standard for tree protectors in a couple of years. This can be done with plastic from smaller waste streams, but it can also be done with biodegradable material. We see that this is the future, and we want governments to look at raw materials differently. To achieve this, we are always looking for companies with the same mission. Together, you can do so much more than alone. This is how we make the difference for a sustainable future."