A deeper dive into my journalistic work, featuring articles that explore innovative solutions and critical challenges across diverse sectors.

From groundbreaking CO2 reuse technologies to the complexities of recycling, renewable energy, food systems, water management, and EU policy, as well as the impact of environmental issues on health, these stories reflect my commitment to uncovering significant developments that shape our world.

Reuse of CO2 and CO

In 2011, I started to explore which technologies were being developed to recycle the most notorious waste material of our time: carbon dioxide. It led to the discovery of a then unknown Icelandic company that was building the world’s first industrial-scale plant to recycle carbon dioxide from flue stack emissions into fuel by using renewable energy.

Currently, many innovations to recycle carbon dioxide are moving out of the lab and are being scaled up. For example, Dutch company DyeCoo has developed the first technology worldwide to dye textiles by using supercritical carbon dioxide instead of water. This eliminates the discharge of chemically polluted waste water.

More than 50 media, such as Zeit Online, Wall Street Journal and GreenBiz, linked to or reviewed my story about DyeCoo, which was written for Yale Environment 360.

Return to steam power

In what is said to be a world first, a plant in Iceland is converting the green house gas CO2 into methanol as a replacement for petrol.

Publication: Professional Engineering Magazine

Can waterless dyeing processes clean up the clothing industry?

One of the world’s most polluting industries is the textile-dyeing sector, which in China and other Asian nations releases trillions of liters of chemically tainted wastewater. But new waterless dyeing technologies, if adopted on a large scale, could sharply cut pollution from the clothing industry.

Publication: Yale Environment 360

Recycling

Recycling is a cornerstone of sustainable development, conserving resources and mitigating environmental harm.

From dismantling oil platforms with advanced vessels to repurposing materials from retired aircraft, these efforts highlight the critical importance of recycling in creating a circular economy and reducing our ecological footprint.

Boom time for carbon fibre recycling

The high price of carbon fibre, coupled with a steep increase in its use in the aerospace and automotive industries, is driving the rapid growth in carbon fibre recycling which has attracted the involvement of some major players such as Boeing, Dell, BMW, Toyota and Hitachi. But some issues – such as shredding prior to treatment – remain to be taken care of.

Publication: Recycling International

Investing in the future of urban mining

Due to increasing global competition, Belgian company Umicore - reported to be the world’s largest recycler of precious metals - has announced it plans a 40% expansion of its 350,000 tonnes p.a. facility. Lydia Heida went to Antwerp to find out more about the company’s ambitious expansion plans.

Publication: Recycling & Waste World

Weight-lifting record

Pioneering Spirit is the world’s largest work vessel and the first that can remove oil platform topsides in a single lift. It could speed up North Sea decommissioning, reports Lydia Heida.

Publication: Professional Engineering Magazine

Out of the skies

What happens to old aircraft after they come in to land for the last time? Lydia Heida reports on the booming business of recycling the materials they contain.

Publication: Professional Engineering Magazine

Renewable Energy

The transition to renewable energy faces significant challenges despite its critical role in combating climate change and ensuring sustainable development.

Scarcity of essential metals like rare earth elements, crucial for technologies such as wind turbines and electric vehicles, could pose a major obstacle.

Also, the shortage of funding for new technologies, coupled with the substantial time required for their development, presents significant hurdles.

Obstakels voor cleantech

Voor bijna elk milieuprobleem is al een oplossing bedacht. Maar waarom duurt het zo lang om duurzame technologieën in te voeren?

Publication: Down to Earth

Money to burn

Gas flaring is a huge environmental problem as well as a waste of resources. Now two british firms are working on a way to turn it into a source of fuel. lydia Heida reports.

Publication: Professional Engineering Magazine

Scarce by nature

An emerging recycling market could be taking shape for the rare earth metals used to power new technologies.

Publication: Recycling Today

Dreigend metaaltekort voor duurzame energie

Juist metalen die nodig zijn voor de overstap naar groene energie worden schaars, volgens verschillende experts. Wat zijn de oorzaken en om welke metalen gaat het? Met een overzicht van oplossingen.

Publication: Milieudefensie Magazine

Food

The modern food system is a complex web of challenges and opportunities. From innovative approaches like Chocolatemakers' bean-to-bar concept and Community Supported Agriculture to the persistent issues of food waste, our agricultural landscape is in flux.

These articles underscore the ongoing struggle to build a more equitable, sustainable, and efficient food system in the face of global challenges.

Chocolatemakers - Is 100% duurzame chocola mogelijk?

Kleine spelers tonen weg naar duurzame chocolade. Wanneer volgen grote spelers en consument?

Chocolatemakers ontwikkelde een bean-to-bar concept dat duurzaamheid over de hele linie naar een hoger niveau tilt. Op de eerste plaats staat betaling van een echt eerlijke prijs aan telers voor biologische bonen. Daarbij komt onder meer CO2-neutraal vervoer van de bonen met een zeilschip, gebruik van groene energie om de chocoladerepen te maken en recyclebare verpakkingen.

Publication: MO*

Aandelen in groente

Inspraak in de wijze waarop jouw groenten verbouwd worden, dat kan bij Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), oftewel: Pergola. Het aantal tuinders dat volgens dat concept werkt, groeit. Niet zo gek ook. De tuinder krijgt voor zijn werkzaamheden een ‘eerlijk loon’. En de klant heeft voor weinig geld elke dag kraakverse biologische groenten op zijn bord.

Publication: Genoeg

Eenderde van productie bereikt maag niet

Veel groenten en fruit verdwijnen in de vuilnisbak, aldus het ministerie van LNV, dat voedselverlies in zijn algemeen op de agenda heeft gezet. Hoeveel gaat er nu eigenlijk verloren en waarom? Wat zijn de oplossingen? En hoe kunnen telers hierop inhaken?

Publication: Groenten & Fruit

Gerommel met biologische tomaat

Is onze biologische tomaat echt wel bio? Nederland importeert biologische groenten uit Spanje om aan de vraag te voldoen. Maar in Spanje is de controle gebrekkig.

Publication: Trouw

Water

Water, essential for life on Earth, is at the center of significant environmental challenges. Plastic pollution has become a widespread issue, contaminating oceans and entering the food chain, potentially impacting health.

Meanwhile, intensive agriculture, such as the greenhouse complexes in southern Spain, are depleting precious water resources. Growing winter vegetables in arid regions raises concerns about the sustainability of our food systems and the environmental cost of year-round produce availability.

These problems highlight the necessity for innovative solutions to protect water resources and rethink our approach to food production and plastic use.

How Ecover plans to create the Ocean Bottle

It is a world first for packaging: creating a bottle out of waste marine plastic, rHDPE and sugarcane-based plastic. But is plastic debris from the ocean still usable as a recyclate? Lydia Heida investigates.

Publication: Recycling & Waste World

De echte prijs van wintergroente

In het kurkdroge Zuid-Spanje ligt het grootste kassen gebied ter wereld. Hier komen de Nederlandse winter groenten vandaan. Maar welke tol betaalt Almería?

Publication: Terra

Health

New health threats continue to emerge in our world, with nanoparticles being a notable example. These tiny particles are increasingly present in various products, raising concerns about their safety and potential health impacts.

Concurrently, long-standing threats like air pollution persist, posing significant risks to public health. As these health challenges evolve, understanding and managing both emerging and established threats becomes increasingly important for public health.

Nanodeeltjes: een vloek of een zegen? We weten het niet en dat is een probleem.

Nanodeeltjes duiken in steeds meer producten – van tandpasta en verf tot textiel en plastic – op. Maar zijn ze eigenlijk wel veilig?

Publication: Scientias

Beijing: bijna alle dagen bewolkt

Berucht om zijn luchtvervuiling is Beijing de plek waar over twee jaar de Olympische Spelen plaatsvinden. Hoog tijd dus om de lucht boven de stad te klaren. Bericht uit een modelstad in wording.

Publication: Terra

EU Policy

From April 2015 to September 2017, I wrote a monthly column about Europe's waste and recycling sectors for Recycling & Waste World (UK).

I discovered, among others, that the EU is spending only a sliver of their multi-billion euro budget on recycling projects. This stands in sharp contrast to ambitious plans of creating a circular economy in the EU, which requires much more funding.

A resource revolution? Don’t hold your breath

The long-awaited new circular economy package has been published, so how about a reality check – regarding the current status of waste and recycling, the much-bespoken ‘first half of the circle’, how it fits into overall EU policy, and what the rather gloomy outcome is. Lydia Heida reports.

Publication: Recycling & Waste World

Worrying numbers put CEP into perspective

With the new Circular Economy Package being branded as ‘more realistic’, it is interesting to see what is actually going on in Europe – most alarming is that 50% of Slovenian municipal waste is missing, while 26% of hazardous waste in the EU has apparently disappeared without trace.

Publication: Recycling & Waste World

Action’s needed, but talk is almost all there is

Environment Committee members are demanding swift action on transforming the European economy into a circular one, and a little step forward has been made. However, is the EU spending its money wisely when it comes to funding the technology that will benefit the waste and recycling sector? Lydia Heida reports.

Publication: Recycling & Waste World

Mercury, crime and ‘lost cars’ top the EU agenda

The EU has ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury to improve how the dangerous metal is mined, used and disposed of, a project to develop hi-tech solutions to waste crime has issued a report, and the problem of missing end-of-life vehicles has been exposed. By Lydia Heida.

Publication: Recycling & Waste World

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