Download brochure (1,1 MB)C2C festival Berlin
Van Kaathoven Group at C2C festival Berlin
Cradle to Cradle for households with pets and plants
Since many years thousands of Dutch families are enjoying an exclusive exchange door-to-door service for kitty litter boxes. This concept is based on a biological life cycle using a specially designed kitty litter. This kitty litter has a long activity period and is made of organic garden and kitchen waste originating from the same households. After use it serves as a soil fertilizer that can be used on house and garden plants. In this way local renewable materials are used to produce the kitty litter and fertilizer products. These products are placed into a waste free loop.
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This is how the cycle works (see picture):
Step 1: Organic (food and garden) waste is dumped into green bin at home
The kitty litter life cycle unmistakably increases value in the chain, from both economical and functional points of view. This is because the food waste – which households consider as having a negative value – is being upcycled into a high-value cat litter pellet via various upgrading steps (composting, fermentation, compressing, drying).
Step 2: Collection and processing organics via high quality compost into patented kitty litter
What makes this kitty litter unique compared with other natural cat litter products is its active working. Unlike cat litter based on dried wood or plant fibres, for example, this product contains natural micro-organisms which are activated as soon as the pellet becomes wet. The odour-neutralising effect lasts for two weeks.
Step 3: The kitty litter is delivered in kitty litter boxes to the households
Sustainability is an important characteristic of the service, but at least as important for the customer are the practical elements associated, such as the prevention of unpleasant odours, ease of use, not to mention an affordable price.
Step 4: Used kitty litter box is collected, replaced by a new one and contents are reprocessed
The cat owners are relieved of as much work as possible because the (bottom part of the) kitty litter box is replaced, cleaned and refilled for them. For the actual exchange, the cat owner doesn’t even need to be at home, and there’s no need to carry any more heavy bags of cat litter. So the customer isn’t buying a product but gets a complete door-to-door service including exchange, cleaning, filling, plus our cat litter pellet.
Step 5: New products are produced like plant growing mix (Dutch Flower Power)
The used cat litter goes into the process again; it is partly remixed with other organic streams, is being pasteurized and goes through a fermentation step again. Fertilizer products are produced like for example Dutch Flower Power (see display). This product can be mixed with water to be used as a growing mix for plants and vegetables in your house and garden.
Step 6: Waste from plants is dumped into green bin and goes into the cycle
Plant waste and garden waste is going into the green bin together with food waste and the process starts all over again and again…
The kitty litter life cycle stands for:
- Renewable raw material – upcycling organics formerly known as food and garden waste
- Natural active ingredients – used for smell elimination and soil improvement
- End-user convenience – no hard work with cleaning kitty litter boxes anymore
- Producer responsibility and reverse logistics – we take the used material back to make new products
The Van Kaathoven Group is a Dutch family company in business for over 50 years: “Originating from logistics and processing of organic streams (“formerly known as waste”) we have setup a new division - called neovito - to develop new products based on renewable raw materials. We are focussing on both convenience and sustainability by using innovative solutions and building closed loops. This is all about reconnecting our future”.
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