Startup CORE Changemakers, known for, among other things, its innovative furnace for hard-to-recycle waste, is being acquired by Butter Bridge. This promises a boost for the Dutch recycling industry. “It’s time to clean up our own backyard,” says Steef Steeneken, CEO of Butter Bridge.
The Netherlands faces a significant challenge when it comes to recycling. After sorting, high-quality raw materials, still end up in large containers to be incinerated, landfilled, or shipped to other countries. In fact, our country was the EU’s largest exporter of plastic waste to non-OECD countries by 2021.
Temperatures up to 1450 degrees
CORE has developed an advanced technology that reaches temperatures of up to 1450°C, much higher than the usual 900°C. These high temperatures can completely break down difficult-to-recycle waste, such as fireproof plastic in telephones, right here in the Netherlands. The plant transforms the remaining material into sustainable products such as garden tiles and railroad ballast. Emissions are carefully washed and collected to prevent environmental damage.
Dirk van Meer, CEO of CORE: “In 2018, I set up team CORE with fellow students. At first, our focus was mainly on combustion processes. Then we went for a broader focus on AI and robotics. This technology is handy for tasks such as sorting and autonomous inspection, for example. Now we are at the point where the complexity of the technologies requires a different kind of organization to take the processes we have developed to the next level. Butter Bridge has the right knowledge.” Butter Bridge is taking over CORE’s network and technology. Some employees also remain involved in future initiatives.
In recent years, CORE has worked to solve several social issues, such as a solution to the large number of battery fires and new applications for fly ash (waste streams from waste incinerators).
Cleaning up our own backyard
Steef Steeneken, CEO of Butter Bridge, is also excited about the acquisition. “I think we need to clean up our own residues better, here in the Netherlands. At Butter Bridge, we are working hard on achieving that goal.” Butter Bridge’s goal is to recycle residue streams containing so-called Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) in the Netherlands. This will make the Netherlands, and thus Europe, less dependent on imports of these CRMs from outside the EU. Currently, this first processing step is not yet available within the country’s borders. Realizing this first step here makes it possible to create larger processing chains within the Netherlands and the EU. With CORE’s advanced technology in hand, Butter Bridge can broaden its focus and move faster toward its goal.
Currently, Butter Bridge already has a number of customers queued up for tests with the CORE plant. “In short: there is already a lot of interest from the market,” Steeneken said. “It is a big challenge to prevent the export of high-quality residue streams to other countries because many traders choose the cheapest option. Still, we see more and more traders waking up to what is happening in other countries. The CORE installation is exactly what we need to demonstrate our concept to potential customers. Moreover, we are not only taking over the installation but also the broad knowledge that CORE has accumulated.”
Scaling up
Currently, Team CORE’s facility processes quantities of waste up to about 30 liters: the volume of a sizable flower pot. This is the scale needed to prove that the technology works. Ultimately, the parties want to work toward an installation that can process 500 to 1,000 kg at a time several times a day.
Gradual transition
The candle is not going out all at once for CORE. In the coming months, the team will still participate in various trade fairs and events. “For example, we are helping Easyfairs for the last time in November, organizing the Recycling Trade Fair in Gorinchem,” says CORE. Themes such as solar panel recycling, reuse, and dealing with battery fires – themes on which CORE has focused for years – will receive plenty of attention.
The best chance of success
Steeneken concludes, “I have been advocating a ban on the export of high-value residue streams for years. We can do so much more in our own country than we think. We are showing that with the help of CORE.”
Van Meer adds, “This is indeed an important step for the recycling industry. But also for CORE itself. We want to avoid Lightyear-like scenarios, where a beautiful idea that is widely supported eventually goes down because of a confluence of circumstances. What happened at Lightyear has been a wake-up call for the entire startup climate in the Netherlands. So too for us. By passing the baton to Butter Bridge, the technology has the best chance of succeeding.”
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