We organise our actions in six thematic & strategic agendas:
Strategic Agendas:
Bio-economy
Circular Construction
Chemicals/Plastics
Manufacturing Industry
Food Chain
Water Cycles
Seven leverages provide additional support:
Leverage effects:
Lever Policy Instruments
Lever Circular Procurement
Lever Communication
Lever Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Lever Financing
Lever Jobs & Skills
Lever Research
What, why and how?
Why are we pursuing a circular economy?
Future visions 2050
How do we see our circular future?
About our management
Who steers what at Flanders Circular?
Currently, the horticultural sector still faces major challenges in the processing of drain water, the excess nutrient water enriched with plant fertilisers that growers can no longer reuse.
Due to the presence of nutrients and plant protection products (gbm's) in that water, the Manure Decree (MAP5) obliges growers to process it in an environmentally responsible way. This means that they can choose to either sell the flow on grassland, but there are important restrictions and conditions for this, or have it collected by an accredited processor, which is very expensive.
Simple techniques to remove these gbm's or nutrients are already known, but they have never all been applied together for the total purification of sludge stream.
Verhoeve Milieu & Water, Proefstation voor de Groenteteelt and the Belgische Plantenkwekerij joined forces to find a solution to this problem and came up with the ZuNuRec concept. In that project, they tried to recover the nutrients from the discharge water and purify it of crop protection chemicals. These recovered nutrients are then reused as fertiliser in a so-called recirculation system.
They came to the conclusion that the combination of new techniques and the optimisation of existing processes offers new and promising possibilities for the treatment of drain water.
Verhoeve Groep Belgium
Partners Verhoeve Milieu & Water, BPK en Proefstation voor de Groenteteelt.
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The combination of new techniques and optimisation of existing processes offers new and promising possibilities for the treatment of waste water. The ZuNuRec project has certainly opened the door to alternative processing of the sluice stream, but does not yet offer a fully-fledged solution.
In the near future, we want to further analyse how we can increase the current thickening of the nutrient flow, mainly by researching the efficiency of the resins that help remove the nutrients. In addition, we will examine whether it is not more interesting to apply a combined or alternative technique, such as electrodialysis. We can also investigate the use of other types of resin.
Furthermore, we are conducting research into the removal and recovery of phosphorus from the spray stream. At the end of September 2019, new resins were delivered and we started new lab tests.
In addition, we are still focusing on dissemination. Verhoeve and Proefstation are members of the steering committee S.O.Spuistroom. This group aims at informing growers about the wide range of purification technologies for the removal of phosphorus, nitrogen and GMOs. The steering group examines and evaluates various techniques from different angles (technical, economic, etc.), organises awareness campaigns and also provides advice with concrete solutions for the short and long term. In this way, Verhoeve and the Research Station constructively contribute to finding even better solutions and keep abreast of what is happening in the sector.