It is January and we are of course busy with the annual figures for 2020. It is a healthy tradition that we have completed and submitted our annual accounts in May / June. After all, sustainability must be well in the books and shown by the figures.

This is certainly also the case with regard to the books that will be published as a result of the research we carry out for the Goois Nature Reserve (Goois Natuurreservaat) and the Animal Protection (Dierenbescherming). The results on respectively the green benefits of the Gooi area and dislodging as a new concept for the management of wild animals in the rural area also have to be registered properly. It is a good tradition that we guarantee surprising innovations, good stories, enriched with well-thought-out figures.

We are also making progress with regard to the Brickz. As part of a project that we are carrying out with a contribution from the province of Gelderland, we are developing an automated system with which we can precisely determine the composition of our Brickz. Not only with regard to chemistry, but especially also with regard to the life to be introduced (fungi, biological control agents, etc.).

We have already made a start in our web shop, where everyone can order customized Brickz (www.tripleee.nl/product/brickz/), but with this system we can really calculate the composition based on the materials present. Completely according to the wishes of the customer. The system is being built by Ebo Dam from Desto, with whom we also collaborate in the Met Gemak Duurzaam project. And we work closely with our regular partner NIOO-KNAW. That too has more or less become a tradition.

Within the Fiber2Fiber project, we are of course still working on breaking down asbestos with the help of mycorrhiza and we had also started carefully last year to investigate whether we can break down PFAS in a similar way. In the near future, this line of research will receive an enormous boost because the Westerdijk Institute has come on board of the alliance (www.wi.knaw.nl). Few people know this institute, but that is unjustified, because when it comes to knowledge of fungi, the Westerdijk Institute is lonely at the top of the scientific world. They also have the largest fungus collection in the world. There has to be a species of funghi that is fond of PFAS.

As part of the Met Gemak Duurzaam project, the production line with which we can refine paper disposables and miscanthus is slowly but surely taking shape. The extraction of fibers and cellulose for the paper industry is already successful and, together with the Knowledge Center for Paper and Cardboard (Kenniscentrum Papier en Karton), Conpax and Desto are now also working on modules aimed at extracting sugars and proteins from the residual flows.

We will soon also have a test run with natural grass. Because we are perhaps most enthusiastic about the ‘From Verge to Page’ (Van Berm tot Bladzijde) concept as we developed it for Rijkswaterstaat. And so it is obvious that we will also tackle this ourselves.

We are also busy organizing a symposium for the project “Dredging, cuttings and grass clippings from the own region based on Brickz” that will take place on 23 March. This time we have to organize that digitally for the first time. We certainly don’t have a tradition in this, so that will be challenging.

The project went well and in the future we are going to collaborate structurally with Landscape Overijssel, aimed at processing residual flows from their nature reserves in our Brickz. The results of the research into the effects of the Brickz on the growth of trees, both in forests and among tree nurseries, are spectacular and will be presented there.

Rob Wolters is our chairman of the day. The symposium will be broadcasted from our mycoretum and it cannot but be a beautiful broadcast with this unique ecosystem as a backdrop. The symposium is only open to invitees.

With spring on the way, we are busy potting the new generation of trees. That is hard work, but we are already looking forward to the green luxury that will be on display in the greenhouse in the coming months.