Biocircular SAM Panels searches the North and finds

An entrepreneurial story from Venlo at the Northern Development Corporation? Yes indeed! Director and owner John Smits found himself in the Acceleration Program Future-proof Building (ATB) and found at NOM not only a welcome critical eye on his proposition, but also an entrance to a large network in the biobased and circular economy.

At SAM Panels in Venlo they make sheet material. They do this using only cellulose fibers, water, pressure and heat. The abbreviation SAM stands for Sustainable Advanced Materials. 'We use no binders, such as glue or resins. That makes our panels a one hundred percent biobased and circular product,' Smits says. 'Stronger than traditional panel material, but without poison and completely sustainable, so good for the planet.

Cellulose is a natural polymer extracted from wood, fiber crops such as hemp, flax and cotton and even cow dung. They prefer to get the cellulose fibers SAM Panels uses to make their panels from local sources. 'We collect local residual streams that are so low-grade that they are usually fermented, composted or even burned. By doing so, we further reduce CO2 emissions.'

You must be wondering how such a venture ends up in Venlo, Limburg. The municipality is not known to the general public as the circular hotspot of the Netherlands. But appearances can be deceiving. Back in 2013, it received a frontrunner award in the field of cradle to cradle at an event in New York. Since then, it has developed into an expert region. And just at that event, the municipality met the American ECOR, the owner of the platform technology with which the current SAM Panels makes their records. Smits: 'One and one was three!' The R&D department settled in the Netherlands and was later complemented by a production plant.

A place and a product linked by a common ambition struck a prospective finance director in 2019 who had just delved into the matter by chance: John Smits. 'I was sent by my wife to the hardware store for the children's room, looking for healthy paint. There I noticed that there is so much crap in products. And then you live in that every day. That was an eye-opener. That's when I got into it.

So that perseverance and his intrinsic motivation to improve the world brought the journey of Smits and SAM Panels to the North, a possible next stop. The Limburger has a down-to-earth view of the biobased and circular world, a character trait the Northerner also likes to attribute to himself.

'For example, we choose not to become a B-Corp (a sustainability label, ed.). We like to show what we do without the rather heavy regulatory burden that such labels entail.'

That down-to-earth outlook also taught Smits and his staff to be open to reverse thinking. After all, "A record is not sexy. The market is there, but sales have to grow. And that is possible in the current factory in Venlo. Of the one and a half million square meters of capacity, SAM Panels now produces about three hundred thousand. 'The problem is that our selling price is too high. A panel should not cost anything, even if it is clear what the health risks of current materials are.'

And then, if scaled up substantially, perhaps that expansion in the North will follow. 'That is the most logical step for us,' Smits says. 'There is a diverse supply of raw materials in the North. Hemp, for example. That sector is in good shape in the Northern Netherlands.' In addition, according to the entrepreneur, there are many residual streams that can still be put to good use.

By-product: through the NOM network, SAM Panels came into contact with several valuable parties. For example, a pilot with a modular builder from the North is underway, which Smits hopes to tell more about later. 'What is also special is that there is a very close large circular network of entrepreneurs, especially in Friesland. For example, we developed a door together with Van Vuuren Deuren from Grou. So those kinds of networks appeal to us enormously.'