Extrusion International 6-2023

16 Extrusion International 6/2023 INDUSTRY NEWS Investment in Collaboration LIOF, the regional development company for the Dutch province of Limburg/The Netherlands, an- nounced its strategic investment in Healix, a clean-tech company and pioneer in the ght against the plastic soup. Healix does this by producing high-quality, circu- lar polymers from discarded rope and nets in collaboration with supply chain partners including The Ocean Cleanup. The polymers are then used as granules in the plastics industry. This innovative production method also reduces the company’s ecological foot- print. This investment in Healix is fully in line with LIOF’s ambition to nance frontrunners in the circu - lar economy. LIOF had been following Healix closely for some time, and saw an ambitious idea turn into a bricks- and-mortar recycling plant in re- cord time. “This investment from LIOF’s Participation Fund will be used to optimize the plant in Maas- tricht, set up by Marcel Alberts at the end of 2021,” said investment manager Stefan Vocks. Annemoon Borst, another investment man- ager, added: “But our ambitions go beyond Maastricht. This plant serves as a blueprint for interna- tional scale-up in the near future, with a focus on key locations for waste stream collection. Plans for this are already in the pipeline.” “Everyone believes that having a circular economy is key to address- ing the problems we now face in terms of climate, biodiversity, and pollution. However, Healix’s am- bitions in this area are being cur- tailed by an unfavorable economic climate, low prices for virgin plas- tics, and delays to legislation on plastics recycling. We’re excited to join forces with LIOF. Besides being an investor from our home province, they share our social and sustainable values and enable us to continue our mission,” said Marcel Alberts, CEO and founder of Healix. “This strategic investment will en- able us to scale up while innovating and optimizing our operations in Maastricht, consolidating our po- sition, and – of course – bringing about the positive change that the plastics chain needs.” Plastics pose a major risk to the environment. According to the Plastic Soup Foundation, more than eight million metric tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year. While discarded rope and nets are the deadliest form of waste for ma- rine life, the vast majority of plastic comes from the mainland. For ex- ample, agriculture uses twelve mil- lion metric tons of plastic each year, yet only 6.5% of this is recycled. De- spite the known risks, global plastic consumption is on the rise and an- nual production is expected to qua- druple to 1,480 million metric tons by 2050. Healix is among the leading in- novative companies producing sus- tainable solutions to this growing plastic problem. The company is able to convert discarded rope and nets from agriculture and sheries into certi ed, circular polymers in the form of pellets. As a key play- er in the ght against plastic pol - lution, Healix also wants circular materials to take precedence over virgin plastics. To achieve this, Hea- lix works closely with partners who collect waste streams and with leading industry players, such as Tama Group and LC Packaging, who use Healix’s granules as a com- ponent in new products. In a nut- shell, this process extracts valuable raw materials from waste streams, which would otherwise been dis- carded. The company’s production pro- cess also reduces CO 2 emissions (a reduction of 50,000 metric tons over a 5-year period) and fossil fuel consumption. “Petroleum is used to produce the conventional mate- rial for rope and nets. Our circular polymers’ carbon footprint is four times smaller than the footprint of that conventional material. That’s how we achieve such a huge reduc- tion,” said Healix founder, Marcel Alberts. LIOF liof.nl Healix healix.eco