Almere: ‘From aquatic plant to paper and bench’

Faced with a tricky situation where fast growing aquatic plants at lake Weerwater were causing problems for local people’s recreational and economic activity, the city of Almere acted to turn crisis into opportunity. While getting rid of, transporting and incinerating the plants is costly, a new business plan was hatched together with local stakeholders. By thinking about the plants as a raw material, the plants are now turned into paper, and even used for meal boxes on some commercial flights.