From waste to an extremely strong and durable foundation product

A fruitful collaboration between contracting company Van de Beeten and ecocommodity producer Heros Sluiskil resulted in the product Optiblend^®: a circular foundation material for use in construction and infra. The advantages are numerous. It is extremely strong, has a high load-bearing capacity, a guaranteed constant quality and is certified. But what makes Optiblend^® now so innovative? Who can tell you all about that is Niels Schellekens, business manager at Van de Beeten.

"Optiblend^® is the sustainable alternative to traditional foundation material," Schellekens explains. "And that makes it not only a full substitute but also a financially interesting one. Optiblend^® namely, has a favorable MKI (Environmental Cost Indicator) value. And because it is so strong and has a high load-bearing capacity, you need less of it to create a strong foundation layer, for example."

The basics

Before we zoom in on the applications, let's go back to the basics of Optiblend^®. The basis is household and commercial waste burned in Waste-to-Energy Plants. The resulting heat is used as energy for heating homes. The waste that eventually remains, known as bottom ash, is collected by Heros. They turn it into certified granova after a thorough process of sieving and washing.^® of. The granova^® Immomix meets strict environmental and civil engineering requirements. Next, the granova^® by ship to the Van de Beeten blending plant in Oosterhout, which saves many transport movements per axle and thus also reduces CO₂ emissions. "We have a huge recycling site, two concrete plants and 200 meters of quay in a prime location near the A59 and A27. Ideally accessible by water, road and rail to the whole of the Netherlands." The secondary raw materials are mixed with water and cement according to a certified recipe. This mixing is computer-controlled so that constant quality is guaranteed. Schellekens: "Optiblend^® is made for about 97% from granova^® Immomix. Otherwise, it is formed by a filler to achieve the desired compressive strength, with cement as a binder. Because the process is computer-controlled, we can always track how much water, cement and secondary raw materials are in Optiblend^® sit."

From company floor to parking lot

The circular foundation material is ideally suited for heavy-duty surfaces, for example parking lots, high-quality (logistics) company floors and industrial sites, as well as roads, bicycle paths and embankments. "We have the entire production process in our own hands. So we can put it together in detail and deliver what is desired. It is a strong, circular, high-quality, financially advantageous and certified product, with minimal environmental impact. We therefore expect the demand for Optiblend^® will increase in the coming years."