Start-up Flip the City turns duckweed debris into substrate tiles with native seeds
Many cities are tiled in: grey through and through. But where there is grey, there is room for green! With our 100% biodegradable duckweed tiles, Flip the City gives everyone the chance to contribute to urban biodiversity. Flip the City's duckweed tiles are made from duckweed sourced from local waterways, a natural waste stream that can cause a lot of nuisance, especially in summer. With our tiles, we've developed a way to make a plug-'n-play tiles to create biodiversity in cities.
National
Netherlands
Municipality of Rotterdam, Municipality of Delft and Municipality of Leiden
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
Yes
RVO - Circular Chain Project 2022
No
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Flip the City Type of organisation: For-profit company First name of representative: Hidde Last name of representative: Griek Age: 24 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Gender: Male Nationality: Netherlands Function: Founder Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Heiman Dullaertplein 168 Town: Rotterdam Postal code: 3024 CD Country: Netherlands Direct Tel:+316 53226076 E-mail:support@letsflipthecity.nl Website:https://www.letsflipthecity.nl/
"Why do ditches, canals and canals grow all green with duckweed, but the city remains bare and grey?" From this question, we founded Flip the City: the sum of a unique approach combined with a special way of thinking.
Petrification in the Netherlands is significant: it is even estimated that some 50% of all gardens in the Netherlands are tiled (Naturalis Biodiversity Center, 2019). But the effect of petrification on our living environment is often underestimated. For instance, tiling contributes to flooding, heat stress (in cities) and the loss of biodiversity. We find the latter especially important: the economic importance of biodiversity is often underplayed, while €510 billion of Dutch-derived investments depend on intact ecosystems (DNB, 2019).
To tackle this, Flip the City creates tiles from duckweed: an exploding aquatic plant that is increasingly becoming a nuisance due to rising temperatures and eutrophication of waterways in urban areas. The nitrogen crisis and climate change are partly to blame for this. Our duckweed tile allows us to tackle several problems into one single circular solution.
Sustainability
Design
Biodiversity
Circularity
Innovation
Our duckweed tile solution is an innovative and sustainable way to enrich urban soil and promote biodiversity in urban areas. The tile is made from duckweed, which is removed from local waterways and processed into a tile that can be used to enhance soil in urban environments.
The tile is mixed with local seeds to promote native flora and fauna, creating an ecosystem that is specific to the local area and supports the local wildlife. The use of local seeds in the duckweed tile creates several benefits, such as using native plants that are better suited to the local environment which will require less maintenance and will thrive better than non-native plants.
Additionally, it attracts local insects, birds, and other wildlife which promotes biodiversity and creates a more diverse ecosystem. This will lead to a healthier urban environment, with a greater variety of plants and animals, which can be enjoyed by residents and visitors alike.
The solution also uses a circular supply chain and promotes water quality by removing duckweed from waterways and providing an alternative use for it. It is an environmentally friendly way of soil enrichment, as it doesn't rely on the use of chemicals and harmful fertilisers, and it helps to reduce the Urban Heat Island effect by reducing the surface temperature. It is easy to install and can be used in a variety of urban environments such as parks, sidewalks, gardens and green roofs.
Flip the City is not just sustainable from the get-go, but it’s regenerative. By using and removing duckweed from waters that have a high concentration of duckweed, we’re taking out nitrogen in the form of protein in the duckweed and through this we are treating eutrophication. Those nutritious properties of the duckweed, locked in the proteins, are what we use to improve the soil quality of cityground for optimal growth of native biodiversity.
Flip the City has one central mission: to enhance the aesthetics and quality of life for city dwellers with our biodegradable duckweed tiles made from duckweed. Our tiles are designed in a way to replace concrete tiles in cities, providing a greener and more sustainable environment through the growth of plants and native biodiversity.
The duckweed tiles blend in perfectly with their surroundings, mimicking the appearance of traditional street tiles. Not completely, however: but they do have the same exact dimensions so that replacement is an easy-to-understand process. The simplicity of the tile's design, along with its plug-and-play installation process, means that once placed, the tiles require no additional maintenance, providing a hassle-free and enjoyable experience for all. The tile simply decomposes and returns a nice bed of plants and flowers.
Flip's goal is to show how cities can be transformed into thriving green spaces with a relatively simple circular process. Growing these tiles contains a didactic component as well: we inform our customers about which plants come up when once the tile has been placed. By introducing the biodegradable tiles, Flip hopes to leave a positive impact on the environment and inspire a greater (integrated) appreciation for sustainability among the wider community.
Affordability and accessibility are at the forefront of our concept, and we are committed to making sure that everyone can benefit from our product. We believe that affordability is not just about the cost of the product, but also about the resources needed to produce it. That's why we have chosen to use duckweed, a readily available and low-cost resource that is often regarded as ‘waste’, to create our fertiliser tiles. This makes our product accessible to everyone, regardless of their budget.
In terms of accessibility, we have designed our product with 'plug n play' in mind, making the installation process or usage of the product accessible to all people. Our product is user-friendly and requires no technical knowledge to use, ensuring that everyone can benefit from the many advantages of using our fertiliser tiles.
Moreover, our company operates under inclusive governing systems, which means that we take into consideration the needs and perspectives of all stakeholders when making decisions. This includes not only our customers, but also the communities and environments in which we operate.
Finally, our concept aligns with the principles of new societal models, such as the circular economy. By creating a closed-loop system, we are reducing waste and minimizing our impact on the environment, while also promoting the principles of sustainability and inclusivity.
The use of duckweed tiles can bring numerous benefits to citizens and civil society. Directly, citizens can improve their local environment through the 'greenification' of urban areas and the cleaning of waterways. The increased local biodiversity that results from this will provide numerous ecological benefits, such as improved air quality and a cooler microclimate.
Indirectly, citizens can benefit from increased knowledge and understanding of biodiversity and circularity. This can be achieved through tangible experiences with our product and a greater understanding of the benefits of sustainable practices.
Civil society, including students and educational institutions, can play a key role in the duckweed tile concept not only by promoting the product and raising awareness about its benefits, but also through the co-creation process. Currently, Flip the City is working with various groups of students from educational institutions around the Netherlands. We provide them with the opportunity to work closely with circular supply chains, and challenge them with real issues related to circular waste-streams. We believe that this can help drive progress towards a more sustainable future and increase public engagement in biodiversity and circularity.
Different stakeholders at the local, regional, and national levels were engaged in the design and development of the concept to address the "duckweed problem" given by the municipality of Rotterdam, the Waterboard of Rijnland, and the Province of South Holland. This was primarily the case because our product was born out of a circular design challenge: where we had the above parties as our stakeholders and while working out the duckweed tile, we made sure to connect it to their larger / shared challenges like lack of biodiversity in cities, the heat effect and water drainage problems.
A pilot was conducted with the municipality of Rotterdam, where we worked in their pioneering neighborhood of Reyeroord, and placed sixty tiles. We made sure to design the pilot together to work towards a common goal and aligned values. The engagement of these stakeholders added value to the process by providing input and insights on the specific local and regional challenges and opportunities, leading to a solution that was well suited to the context and had buy-in from key players. Additionally, their involvement helped to ensure that the solution would have a positive impact on local, regional, and national levels by cleaning up waterways and increasing biodiversity.
The concept behind the tiles was developed through a unique collaboration between the co-founders, who brought together their expertise in biotechnology and ecology. Their understanding of these fields was combined with a growing focus on sustainability and design to create a product that offers multiple benefits. This is to say that we have most of the talent already in house, but that we’re still improving on the business trajectory.
By leveraging the strengths of these different disciplines and knowledge fields, the co-founders were able to develop a product that not only replaces traditional groundwork methods, but also contributes to cleaning up local waterways and increasing biodiversity. The interaction between the various fields allowed for a holistic approach to the design and development of the tiles, leading to an innovative solution that balances environmental impact with practicality and affordability.
The duckweed tile, our innovative concept, stands out when compared to mainstream solutions in the field. The conventional options, such as monospecies sedum tiles and traditional pot ground, come with high carbon footprints. Unlike these 'mainstream' products, Flip the City is unique in almost every aspect and stands apart from other biomaterial-based products. Rather than turning nature into raw materials for construction and tiling, Flip uses a nature to nurture approach. With all its materials sourced locally within the Netherlands, Flip offers an eco-friendly solution for preserving and enhancing local biodiversity. By leveraging the expertise of the co-founders in biotechnology and ecology, combined with a deep understanding of sustainability and design, we set ourselves apart from the crowd as a truly innovative solution.
Sure, the innovative aspect of our Flip concept is its ability to change the meaning of resources and showcase circular thinking at its finest. Currently, our focus is on one product - a tile that replaces traditional groundwork methods and reduces the installation steps, allowing for mass installation at an affordable price. This product is innovative compared to mainstream options like monospecies sedum tiles or regular pot ground because it uses nature to nurture, without relying on materials outside of the Netherlands. The methodology, technology, and processes behind our product can be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries, and contexts, further demonstrating the circular nature of our solution. Think for example of how we can use this circular design thinking method of creating resources from agriculture waste streams that allow for stronger connections between cities and farmers. It’s all about making connections for us.
Flip tackles some of the biggest global challenges head on, with a local approach that's both effective and efficient. By using innovative technology to replace traditional groundwork methods and clean up waterways, Flip is helping to restore biodiversity and create a greener, more sustainable future. But that's just the beginning. Flip's circular approach means that it's not just solving problems, but transforming them into solutions. With its ability to reduce waste and create new business models, Flip is leading the way in the circular economy, a movement that's all about reducing our impact on the environment and creating a more sustainable future.
With the use of Flip tiles, we can also reduce heat in cities, improving the quality of life for urban dwellers. So whether you're an environmentalist, a business leader, or just someone who wants to make a difference, Flip has something to offer. Join us as we create a brighter, more sustainable future, one Flip tile at a time.
