The Green House of Albron was declared the winner of the Circular Food Award 2018 yesterday. The award is an initiative of ABN AMRO that aims to stimulate inspiring concepts that accelerate the circular economy. The Green House - an initiative of Ballast Nedam, Strukton and Albron - wants to make sustainability tangible for a wide audience.
The jury chose three nominees from 24 submissions: Gro Mushrooms, Protix with the Oerei and Albron with The Green House. The jury assessed the concepts on scalability, inspiration and the extent to which the circular economy is in the DNA of the company. Caterer Albron was the unanimous winner. The jury consisted of: Jantine Heemskerk, commercial director Heemskerk Fresh & Easy, Jan Willem Grievink, director FoodService Institute Netherlands, Toine Timmermans, program manager sustainable food chains Wageningen University and Alex van Kuilenburg, business unit manager food Milgro bv.
Fully circular pavilion
The Green House is a fully circular pavilion with catering and meeting functions in the station area in Utrecht. It is a meeting place where consumers and companies are inspired and exchange knowledge about circular solutions and new business models. In The Green House, circularity is not limited to materials and raw materials. For example, 1 in 5 jobs is reserved for employees at a distance from the labor market. “For us, circularity is mainly about 'doing': about trial and error, learning and adjustment and about new ways of working together. If you really want to work circularly, you have to do so together, throughout the chain. Above all, circularity must be circu-fun and circu-tasty. This all comes together in a beautiful way in The Green House ”, says Robert Visser, director of Horeca &
All winners
Alex van Kuilenburg was impressed by the high level of the entries: “It is good to see that as a jury we had a choice of various high-quality initiatives. Milgro is happy to participate in these awards as a jury. From our independent position in the circular economy, we see many parties that provide added value in the field of sustainable use of raw materials and we would like to get in touch with initiatives in the field of sustainability. In our own innovation center, we guide startups in the valorisation of residual flows. All applications for this award contain a very high level of valorisation. It was therefore difficult to make a choice. We are all winners with these companies in the Netherlands for a sustainable food system anyway! ”
