New Horizon seeks 10 locations in the Netherlands for rollout of revolutionary concrete processing technology

New Horizon (specialist in urban mining) 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 - using 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 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 building task of local and regional governments. CEO of New Horizon Michel Baars: "That's why we are now making the call: 'Governments, pitch your ambition to us and we will select the 10 most promising ones for developing an urban mine in your region."

In close cooperation with partner De Rutte Groep, the patented technology, named Smart Liberator - 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. Michel Baars: "This allows us to scale up much more and we have a concrete solution to contribute to the realization of the climate agreements. Especially when you consider that 5 billion tons of CO₂ are released worldwide when making concrete, which is 9% of the 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," said Michel Baars. "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 10 sites, New Horizon expects to eventually have enough insights for a further, global rollout of the Urban Mine technology by mid-2024. That global potential was always the starting point for inventor Koos Schenk's development of the technology, which took more than 10 years. Michel 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 maturity."

About New Horizon

New Horizon specializes in urban mining. This means that they do not demolish buildings, but harvest them. New Horizon finds out which parts can still be put to good use and gives them a new life. They are doing this, for example, when dismantling an office building of De Nederlandsche Bank. In this way, New Horizon is making an important contribution to the circular economy. New Horizon was founded in 2015, has 17 employees and made 13 million in revenue in 2020; 22 million is projected in 2021. Founder Michel Baars is also the founder of the Urban Mining Collective. This includes 25 partners, including producers, distributors and knowledge partners.