Organization
Working on circularity is something you do together. Together with the entire plastics and plastics chain, the board and team are working on the objectives of the Circular Plastics NL program for a sustainable plastics economy in the Netherlands. They are happy to introduce themselves to you.
Organization
Board

Prof. Bert van der Zwaan | chairman

Dr.ir. Just Jansz | board member

Dr. Esther van den Beuken | board member

Dr. Maurits Boeije | secretary | program manager incubator

Mark Schmets | Hearing Officer from Ministry of Economic Affairs
Office

Marc Spekreijse | director Circular Plastics NL

Joop Groen | program manager thermochemical recycling

Prof.dr.ir. Roland ten Klooster | program manager design

Birgit Ros | communications specialist

Jan Willem Slijkoord | program manager chemical depolymerization

Jolanda Kraaikamp | management assistant

Tom Claessen | program manager for recycling of styrene-based materials & textiles

Dr. Louis Jetten | program manager characterizing, sorting and washing

Mark Demuynck | Polyolefin recycling program manager

Carlijn Röell | Strategic advisor
The board members introduce themselves
Prof. Bert van der Zwaan | chairman
Prof. Dr. Bert van der Zwaan is active in numerous scientific and social organizations, having ended his career as Rector Magnificus of Utrecht University in 2018. He has broad experience in managing large organizations and developing strategic initiatives at the intersection of science and society. In addition to scientific centers and large institutions, he has also led Climate KIC, the EU's first knowledge and innovation community. He is chair of the program committee of the National Science Agenda (NWA), chair of the supervisory board of Nuffic, and member of the advisory or supervisory boards of domestic and foreign museums and universities
The central theme of the coming decades is keeping our world livable. An essential part of that is dealing more sustainably with our raw materials and waste products. In that context, Circular Plastics NL is a unique program where industry and science meet in making a major contribution towards circularity. I consider it a privilege to play a role in this.
Dr.ir. Just Jansz | board member
Dr.ir. Just Jansz has served as a supervisory board member and independent consultant since 2011, following a 30-year career with Shell, Basell and LyondellBasell, where he was President Technology Business. Jansz has broad experience in the plastics industry and in commercializing innovative technology. He has been a supervisory board member of several publicly traded companies and scale-ups in the United States, England and Italy and is currently a supervisory board member of Neste Oyj (Finland), among others.
Reducing the use of fossil raw materials and effectively reusing plastic waste are two major challenges for the chemical and manufacturing industries, but this also offers opportunities for innovation. I would like to help ensure that we seize those opportunities in the field of circular plastics in the Netherlands.
Dr. Esther van den Beuken | board member
Dr. Esther van den Beuken works as a principal consultant at TNO and has 20 years of experience at the interface of public-private innovation and societal themes. Esther has a broad experience with plastics. Esther is guiding nationally and internationally in the field of Circular Plastics through her role as core team member for the Knowledge and Innovation Agenda Circular Economy (KIA-CE), leader of the route of the National Science Agenda Circular Economy, participation in TransitionAgenda Plastics and the Plastic PactNL. Within the EU, Esther is leading by setting up Horizon Europe projects in the field of plastics, executing strategic projects for industry organizations, and participating in Circular Plastic Alliance and Plastic Pact EU.
Plastics are valuable materials. The growth fund Circular Plastics NL invests in the necessary innovation and scaling up of circular plastics. I am happy to contribute to take up this challenge in Circular Plastics NL with the whole plastics value chain to achieve the goal of 50% circular plastics and reduction of 1Mton CO2 by 2030 in combination with seizing economic opportunities.
Dr. Maurits Boeije | secretary | program manager incubator
Dr. Maurits Boeije has been involved in the creation of the Circular Plastics initiative as secretary of the National Platform Plastics Recycling. He also worked at NWO and the Top Sector Chemistry on the themes Chemical Conversion, Process Technology and Synthesis and Advanced Materials. After studying chemistry in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, Maurits developed a broad knowledge of materials. He completed his PhD at TU Delft after which he worked for a few years at a startup in the field of catalyst synthesis equipment. Maurits is now working as secretary of the board and program manager for CPNL's program line 'Incubator'.
It is inspiring to see that so many different parties in this program want to work together for a circular future. We all have a responsibility to address these challenges now so that we make a better future for our children. I am happy to contribute to this and want to bring private parties, from industry to startups together with public parties, from government to civil society organizations.
Mark Schmets | Hearing Officer from Ministry of Economic Affairs
Mark Schmets is teamlead chemical industry & innovation at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate (EZK). Together with its partners, the ministry works on a sustainable and entrepreneurial Netherlands: a climate-neutral society and a strong, open economy.
Bureau members introduce themselves
Marc Spekreijse | director Circular Plastics NL
As director, Marc manages the Circular Plastics NL office and the program managers and the office. Moreover, he takes care of the operational liaison with both the Ministry of Economic Affairs, RVO and NWO for launching and monitoring calls, and with the Ministry of I&W, to ensure alignment with policy, legislation, and European developments.
Marc studied chemical engineering with a specialization in materials science / polymer technology. After starting in research at AkzoNobel, he then held various positions in engineering/innovation, marketing, sales, business and general management at home and abroad. Within the chemicals division of the German family-owned company Würth, he was CEO of several companies active in coatings and specialty chemicals. Most recently, he was active in the packaging industry.
"We cannot continue to endlessly use fossil fuels as a raw material for plastics, but neither can we do without these materials in our daily lives. The Circular Plastics NL program offers a unique opportunity to contribute to the necessary transition to more circularity. This transition requires huge investments, efforts and innovation throughout the value chain. We can accelerate that with this National Growth Fund program. With my academic background and international business experience, I hope to contribute to a more effective collaboration between industry, government and the research community."
Joop Groen | program manager thermochemical recycling
Joop Groen studied Process Engineering, Business Administration (MBA), Strategic Innovation (MIT) and began his career at General Electric in the Engineering Plastics division. Initially in technical and operational leadership roles, such as plant manager, and later in commercial roles such as marketing and product manager.
In 2005 Joop joined TNO where he held several managerial positions. From 2012, Joop served as senior manager of new business development and was responsible for initiating major new programs and projects, such as Biorizon. In 2016, he founded a technology "start-up" for sustainable innovations. He is also a member of the Executive Team of Circular Biobased Delta, director of the CHAPLIN program for biobased bitumen and the CBBD Network Chemical Recycling. For the province of Brabant and the West Brabant region, Joop recently supported the coordination of the Just Transition Fund.
'From waste back to raw materials with innovation' Joop on improving thermochemical recycling with the CPNL program: "Thermochemical recycling is already an innovative way to recycle waste, turning it into valuable raw materials that can be reused. The Circular Plastics NL program provides an opportunity to develop effective solutions to further reduce dependence on raw materials. In my role as program manager, I am thereby happy to contribute to this chain where waste plastics can be repurposed into raw material for the plastics industry."
Prof.dr.ir. Roland ten Klooster | program manager design
Roland ten Klooster graduated with an MSc in Industrial Design Engineering from Delft University of Technology in 1987 on the design of plastic packaging for beer for Heineken. He worked one year for Heineken Technical Services and at Formaat, an agency in product development.
In 1991 he was one of the founders of Plato product consultants, a firm that grew into a specialist in structural packaging design, working for multinationals and SMEs. Roland wrote a dissertation on how decisions are made in packaging design and came up with a methodical approach to optimize this process, which he defended at Delft University of Technology in 2002. Since 2006, he has held a part-time position at the University of Twente with the Chair in Packaging Design and Management.
"Can't, doesn't exist. The role of plastic packaging design and development is large, but this chain can also be closed. I like to look for the bottlenecks in the value chain to show that it is possible to close the plastic chain in packaging technologically, but also from the marketing and design stage on a large scale."
Birgit Ros | communications specialist
Birgit is active at Circular Plastics NL to help with the growing network collaborating on 100% circularity in the plastics chains. She takes care of CPNL's communication materials and channels and events.
In addition, she is active with various organizations, foundations, small and large companies to help with their communication goals, but most importantly discovering their social role and transition to meaningful business. She has worked as a communications consultant at Huntsman, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, Municipality of Rotterdam and Dutch Coalition for Humanitarian Innovation, among others.
Jan Willem Slijkoord | program manager chemical depolymerization
Jan Willem Slijkoord is a materials scientist and entrepreneur. During his 25-year career, he has worked in process technology companies such as Akzo Nobel, Tata Steel, Norit Activated Carbon and for the National Laboratory for Applied Sciences, TNO. There he was active in various roles as a materials scientist, marketing manager or business development manager. During his career, he gained extensive experience in the PET fiber and PET recycling industry, as well as in engineering and high-performance polymer sales.
With a strong circular affinity for turning "nothing" into "something," he founded a tech startup developing sustainable materials technology, CiorC, in 2015. Examples include recycled and biodegradable polyesters for 3D printing, furniture parts based on hospital waste and advanced mechanical recycling of polyester.
'Investing in innovation is necessary to make circular impact' "Recycling of plastics can and must be much more efficient, large-scale and better, because we need to retain much more volume of plastics for qualitative and high-quality reuse. In this, for streams that are difficult to recycle, solvolysis or depolymerization can be of great added value. We need to invest not only in new depolymerization technologies, but also in adequate low-energy purification steps. Acceleration in the scale-up of these innovations is also important. I look forward to the showcases where 'technology-push' and 'market-pull' come together, and the participants of the consortia come together as partners."
Jolanda Kraaikamp | management assistant
As management assistant, Jolanda supports the director and the board and takes care of all common back-office activities at Circular Plastics NL.
Jolanda is an experienced support professional who enjoys result-oriented work with great enthusiasm and a sense of responsibility. Thinking along and executing are important principles.
Tom Claessen | program manager for recycling of styrene-based materials & textiles
Tom Claessen is a Bioengineer Interphase Chemistry (KU Leuven), alumnus of Vlerick Managent School and has 15 years of experience in application development, recycling and compoundering of engineering plastics. Tom started his career at Ravago Group where as technical account manager, product manager and automotive team manager he got a broad pall on the different aspects of the plastics value chain. In addition, Tom was/is also active in the development of bio-aromatic chemicals and bio-based waste stream valorization at Cardolite Corporation, KU Leuven, VIT0, Avantium.
"Styrene-based materials represent a significant share of our waste stream due to their widespread presence in building products, electrical and electronic appliances and automotive applications. Although styrenics are valuable materials and Western Europe constantly needs new styrenics for the production of new products and components, end-of-life products made of styrene-based materials are currently only recycled to a limited extent. The recycling rate of these materials must increase. After all, recycling these valuable raw materials from our (urban) waste stream is not only good for climate and environment. It will also help our local manufacturing industry become less dependent on foreign feedstock suppliers. As program manager, I would like to contribute to making our plastics industry more circular."
Dr. Louis Jetten | program manager characterizing, sorting and washing
Louis has over 35 years of experience in plastics, in recycling, materials development and processing. His main focus is on innovation and development through collaboration in the chain.
He studied chemistry in Nijmegen followed by a doctorate in solid-state chemistry.
At DSM, he worked in the development of LLDPE and in mechanical recycling of plastics at Reko BV. He then did business development at TNO Chemie and at DPI Value Centre, including setting up company collaborations and realizing market opportunities, partly in the field of plastic recycling, and the deployment of recyclates.
At 4PET Recycling, in a managerial position, he was responsible for quality improvement through optimizations in the recycling process.
He is currently self-employed as project leader for DPI/ISPT's InReP project and advises SMEs in plastic recycling, both in the Netherlands and internationally.
"To increase the use of recycled plastics, recyclates must be clean and safe. Separation of contaminants is essential in this regard. This can be done by sorting before the recycling process and separation steps in the process itself. Determining whether polymer specifications and purity requirements are met requires reliable analytical methods that can be used relatively easily and at low cost. An integrated development of analytical and recycling technology should lead to better recyclates."
Mark Demuynck | Polyolefin recycling program manager
Mark Demuynck is an experienced engineer and consultant with more than 30 years of experience in the polymer industry. He studied bioengineering at Ghent University and received a master's degree in Composites and Polymer Engineering from KU Leuven. Mark started his career as sales and country manager at Resinex, the current market leader in polymer distribution. In Europe, his responsibilities included PE, PS and PA as product manager. He built strong relationships with customers and partners and was a key player in the company's growth. At Ravago Europe, Mark was business manager for the recycled PE, PP and PS compounds. He was responsible for the entire chain, from raw materials to finished products. He led the development of new products and markets, and improved the efficiency of production processes. As an expert in polymer compounding and recycling, Mark has in-depth knowledge of the entire production and sales chain of these products. He is an expert in developing and implementing recycling programs that are both economically and environmentally profitable.
Mark is also active as an investor and advisor to start-ups in various sectors. He has a passion for innovation and is always looking for new ways to make the world a better place.
Carlijn Röell | Strategic advisor
Carlijn Röell has worked as a strategic consultant for over 12 years. After studying Technology Management at the University of Groningen, she joined Kearney as a consultant in 2011. There she worked for 10 years on strategic issues (including growth strategies, revenue improvement programs and organizational transformations) at board level for multinationals. Although she started out all round she gradually focused more and more on the Consumer Goods and Retail sector. At the end of her time at Kearney, she spent a year at Unilever on the plastic packaging strategy. Thus she entered the field of circular plastics. Then she wanted to continue in the field of circular economy and started for herself as a strategic consultant.
Since then, Carlijn worked for several programs in the field of circular plastics, including Het Schone Noorden and Plastic Pact NL. As a strategist, she was involved in the creation, strategy development and further implementation.
Many parties have started the transition to a circular economy for plastics. Nice steps are being taken but there is also still much to do. CPNL offers parties in the Netherlands the opportunity to take a leading position in the transition. Besides accelerating the necessary innovation in the various program lines, the cohesion between them is also important, both in terms of content and partners. I look forward to strengthening this cohesion in my role as strategic advisor.