In a world where the population is rapidly growing and urbanization is increasing, there is a rising demand for sustainably grown food.
Circular City Greenhouses by Van der Hoeven offers a cross-sectoral solution where high-tech greenhouses repurpose urban waste streams, helping regions go from linear to circular economies. Explore a world where food security and circularity are the norm, benefiting industries, cities, regions, and above all people.
Waste is abundant, locally available and increasingly difficult to deal with. By many it is seen as a burden, but to us it is a resource. It is often undervalued but full of possibilities. By introducing Circular City Greenhouses we are repurposing waste streams for circular fruit and vegetable production.
While the world population is increasing to 10 billion people in the next three decades, cities will grow even faster. Rapid urbanization leads to 70% of the population living in cities by 2050. Double the amount of today. And with an increasing population comes an increasing amount of waste to deal with.
With a growing population together with increasing awareness for healthy living, the demand for fruit and vegetables grows even faster. Continuation of fruit and vegetable production like we do today, cannot be sustained by the world around us and inevitable leads to depletion of natural resources and damage to the little nature we have left.
Already, agriculture is responsible for a deforestation, soil erosion and pollution. It is responsible for 70% of all fresh water use and as much as 80% of biodiversity loss. A changing climate accelerates the process by making fertile agricultural areas infit for current farming practices and increasingly extreme weather puts pressure on the yields.
All the more reason to move away from our take-make-waste model and transform into a circular economy.
With Circular City Greenhouses, we are embracing the circular model, a sustainable approach combining waste management and food production without the pollution, depletion of materials and degradation of our environment.
Increased productivity leads to verry low land use and a limited environmental footprint. And by taking the crop out of the ground and into a protected environment, a part of the food production can move from arable fertile lands to degraded soils and desert areas. Tackling the issues from two sides.
Producing locally is essential in securing universal access to healthy, nutritious food. Reducing the dependency on imports ensures supply during shortages and keeps food affordable during economic downfalls. Crops like leafy greens, tomatoes and soft fruits are grown with minimal food miles, protected from extreme weather and pests and diseases in a Van der Hoeven greenhouse. While agriculture can be challenging in harsh climates, it will create the perfect growing conditions for crops to thrive all year round, in any location.
Energy, CO2 and nutrients recovered from urban waste streams replace fossil resources, preventing the depletion of natural resources without contributing to climate change. Pushing productivity to a maximum allows food production with a small footprint, leaving room for nature and preserving forests. Growing without pesticides results in a healthier product and protects biodiversity.
Taking crops out of the ground and into high tech greenhouses makes cultivation independent of soil conditions and allows for up to 95% reduction in water use. Barren lands and deserts become available for food production when water can be sourced sustainably using a circular approach.
Building a circular food system leads to synergies between different industries. In finding an application, waste becomes a resource and disposal costs are replaced by additional revenue streams. Resources can be secured in long-term contracts where availability and pricing are independent of volatile market conditions. All while reducing the impact of supply chains and reducing pressure on waste disposal networks.
A worldwide shift in environmental policy and growing consumer awareness for sustainable and healthy produce drives the transition to circular food systems. And with a service life of over 30 years, any greenhouse built today needs to be net-zero within its lifespan. Whether it comes to greenhouse gas emission, nitrogen pollution, deforestation or pesticide use, Circular City Greenhouses are ready to do so for years to come.
Circular City Greenhouses by Van der Hoeven is sustainable fruit and vegetable production in high tech greenhouses using resources recovered from urban waste streams.
Using a high-tech greenhouse means benefitting from high yields and year round crop production. In the strictly controlled indoor environment, water and air can be continuously recirculated, reducing resource consumptions to a minimum.
The remaining demand for the four key resources needed in high-tech greenhouses; water, energy, nutrients and CO2, is obtained from urban waste streams using proven technology. By seamlessly integrating into large-scale circular systems, our greenhouses create industrial synergies and play a pivotal role in transforming regions from traditional linear models to circular economies
Circular City Greenhouses is a concrete example of what can happen when the water, energy, food and waste sector come together to close the loop, benefiting cities, countries, industries, and above all, people.
This means we push the functionality of a greenhouse beyond that of supplying food security. By being able to grow food on recovered resources, we can incorporate our greenhouse into larger circular, overarching concepts that bring several synergetic benefits for cities, people and industries.
Waste streams encompass various overlooked resources, ranging from municipal waste and sewage to industrial or agricultural by-products. By repurposing these materials, we reduce waste and contribute to a circular economy. This approach emphasizes practicality and efficiency in resource extraction, promoting a more sustainable and eco-friendly future for urban areas.
Find out more about resource CO₂, Energy, Nutrients and Water
By sourcing it locally and sustainably from residual biological sources, we are not just paving the path to circular greenhouses, but we are also using CO₂ that would otherwise have been emitted into the environment.
At the Van der Hoeven greenhouse SARA Farm in Japan, CO₂ is sourced from a biomass power plant that is fired with forestry residue and palm kernel shells.
Energy can be obtained from waste in many ways. Biodigesters and waste-to-energy projects directly generate heat and electrical power from waste on-site. Collaboration with industry gives a second use to residual heat from industrial processes. Even low-grade heat from sewage water can be extracted, upgraded and put to good use.
With energy often having a share of up to 30% in the operational cost, the use of energy from waste not only eliminates the dependency of fossil fuels and their volatile markets, but greatly reduces the operational cost in the process.
Just like in nature, the necessary nutrients are excreted by animals and are formed in the decomposition of biological material. When residue from livestock industry, sewage treatment or plant based biological sources is used to generate energy and CO2 in a biodigester, the digestate that remains is a stabilized source for the required nutrients.
In many cases, the required nutrients are already present in the correct ratio, a unique treat of nature where plants have adapted their needs to natural fertigation sources. The use of nutrients from biological waste paves the way to organic growth and greatly reduces the impact of synthetic fertilizer production. One of the mayor contributors of greenhouse gas emissions.
Water is an essential part of life, without it our crops cannot grow. In Van der Hoeven greenhouses, water and nutrients are continuously recirculated, significantly reducing the water demand, up to 95% compared to open field crops.
For the little water that we do use, rainwater is collected from the greenhouse roof where possible and supplemented with treated domestic- or industrial waste water.
Crops are irrigated without depleting non-renewable natural water resources and the loss of fresh, (non-saline) water to the oceans is limited. Additionally, droughts are no longer a risk to growing operations
In a water stressed area close to Adelaide, this form of water reuse is exemplified. Using a pipeline to the Bolivar wastewater treatment plant, the crops are irrigated, even throughout the driest periods of the year. A great showcase of the synergies created when the water and food sector collaborate to overcome climate challenges.
