We have had a quick sit-down with Martin Tietema, CEO at Foamplant, to talk about his view on the future of foam. From fully circular foam in your furniture all the way to the ideal cultivation substrate – Get to know Foamplant.
The Start
What started with just 3 people in a garage back in 2017 has grown into a 5000 square meters factory in Groningen, fully equipped with high-tech machinery. Foamplant produces the perfect alternative to conventional foams: circular, sustainable and biodegradable foam, ready for the future. When asked what initiated the start of Foamplant, Martin replied: “Foamplant is driven by the thought that with enough creativity, effort and knowledge, everything can be made sustainable and in a sustainable way”. The company continuously strives for open creativity, where the sky’s the limit. Now, with a thoroughly motivated team of about 40 people, that same garage-mindset remains one of the core values of the company. The possibilities are endless, and Foamplant is ready to take on the world.
The Product
Foamplant produces foam, as simple as that. With the world shifting from a conventional, single-use mindset to a sustainable, circular economy, foam is one of the last raw production materials to make the transition to a recyclable alternative. This is where Foamplant jumps in. At the moment, Foamplant differentiates itself using two products: growfoam®, focusing on the cultivation substrate market, and moorefoam®, focusing on the furniture and bedding market.
Growfoam®
The first product is growfoam®, a cultivation substrate, perfect for vertical farms and greenhouse horticulture. growfoam® requires less maintenance, eliminates pathogen risk, is fully biodegradable and has maximum potential for automated production; and those are just some of the benefits. This makes the substrate a greener, faster and safer alternative to conventional growing methods. growfoam® is currently being actively produced and is already partly on the market. As this is just the tip of the iceberg, the substrate is still being optimized to perform even better. Foamplant also aims to collaborate with growers to help them optimize their production and give them the tools to take the right path to a more sustainable and circular future. growfoam® fits perfectly into the future of cultivation.
Moorefoam®
The second product is moorefoam®. moorefoam® is the sustainable, circular and biodegradable alternative to conventional foams in many applications. At the moment, the market that is being focused on is the furniture and bedding market, but the applications are endless. There is great demand from the market to become fully circular and sustainable, and the bottleneck to do so is foam. As there are no circular solutions available as of now, this offers great opportunities.
At Foamplant, every foam structure is possible. Compared to normal polyurethane foams, moorefoam® is soft, flexible and open foam. The foam is also thermoplastic, so at the end of its lifetime, the foam can be reused for new, sustainable products. Even when the foam is not returned correctly, the foam is fully biodegradable as mentioned before. moorefoam® is not on the market yet, but the aim is to release the product early 2023. The foam is still being developed and optimized together with parties in the target markets.
The Future
So what does the future hold for Foamplant? The most important goal is to make the entire production industry sustainable, shifting to a circular economy. In order to encourage other companies to do so, Foamplant plans on collaborating with all parties in the industry willing to make their production cycle more sustainable. Also, it is important to engineer production in such a way that the cost level of ‘green’ foam is equal to conventional products. By optimizing economies of scale and by making their production more efficient, Foamplant hopes to make their sustainable alternative to conventional foams the best option available in the market.
Read more about Foamplant