WANTED: 10 Locations for rollout of revolutionary concrete processing technology

Specialist in urban mining New Horizon is looking for a dozen strategic locations in the Netherlands where the company itself wants to invest in so-called urban mines. At these locations it is possible - with the help of Smart Liberator technology - to return concrete from the region to its original constituents of sand, cement and gravel. After reclamation, the original raw materials can be fully processed into new concrete. This leads to a significant CO2 reduction of at least 60% and substantially lowers the environmental burden. In this way, the company wants to contribute to the sustainable ambitions and the gigantic construction task of local and regional governments. CEO of New Horizon Michel Baars: "That is why we are now making the call: 'Governments, pitch your ambition and we will select the ten most promising for developing an urban mine in your region."

Working closely with partner De Rutte Groep, the patented technology called Smart Liberator - an invention of Koos Schenk - was introduced in 2018. Recently, the second generation Smart Liberator was launched. It is 35% cheaper and 35% more effective than the first version. Baars: "As a result, it can be scaled up much more and we have a concrete solution to contribute to the realization of the climate agreements. Especially when you consider that worldwide 5 billion tons of CO2 are released when making concrete, which is 9% of total CO2 emissions! Our ambition is to eventually roll out urban mine technology internationally. To take that step, it is necessary to collect more data for the local deployment and effectiveness of this technology. For that reason, we are investing in these urban mines together with Rutte Group."

Global rollout in 2024

"Many regions and cities have ambitious building plans and face a complex task," Baars said. "We want to help realize them in a circular way. We are looking for locations that are easily accessible - via water. With the regions or cities that come forward, we make an analysis whether, for example, there is enough potential to 'harvest' old concrete and apply new circular concrete for building plans to be realized." With the large volume of data coming from the ten sites, New Horizon expects to eventually have enough insights by mid-2024 for a further, global rollout of urban mining technology. That global potential was always the starting point for inventor Koos Schenk's development of the technology, which took more than 10 years. Baars: "Schenk is truly a visionary who was far ahead of his time. It is a great honor for us to bring that potential to fruition."