Launch of the Bright Beet Book: more than 130 versatile sugar beet applications
From pastries to vegan hamburgers, from sports clothes to cosmetics, from antifreeze agents in vaccines to replacements for microplastics. With all its versatility, the sugar beet is a key component in innovative solutions for a sustainable future. In the Bright Beet Book, Cosun Beet Company presents more than 130 versatile applications showing how sugar beet can lead the way. It is also the world’s first book to be made from beet paper. The book was introduced to the world during an online talk show on 25 November 2021. An online version of the Bright Beet Book has been produced to accompany the physical book.
Read the e-book
Watch the online event (1 hour)
We are facing the enormous worldwide challenge of eliminating our use of fossil fuels in order to reach climate neutrality by 2050. “As Cosun Beet Company, we want to be at forefront of the transition. Through cooperation and innovation in the supply chain, our ambition is to be a pioneer in the circular economy. The Bright Beet Book is bursting with innovations showing how we and our partners can lead the transition from fossil to circular. Take our recent partnership with Avantium to produce plant-based components from sugars to build green plastics,” says Paul Mesters, CEO of Cosun Beet Company.
The beet are bursting with possibilities
Cosun Beet Company’s new book puts the beet’s versatility and circular potential in the spotlight. “This is entirely in line with our ambition and strategy of being the most innovative, greenest and most efficient beet group in the world,” explains Paul Mesters. “Sugar beet is a versatile source of food and non-food applications. Think of new bio materials that can replace fossil raw materials in textiles, detergents, paints and countless other applications. Much of what we see around us is made out of beet components, or can be!” he enthuses with pride. The impressive and browsable book has been made in cooperation with paper manufacturer Crown Van Gelder out of sugar beet paper.
100% circular, 0% waste
The Cosun innovation center in Dinteloord is constantly on the look-out for new products and innovations. For example, Cosun Beet Company has devised an application using special fibres made from beet pulp. “They are already being applied in skin care products in the cosmetics market,” says Mesters. “We are getting everything we can out of the beet.” But the CEO of Cosun Beet Company wants to extract even more value out of the beet. “In our hands, this exceptional plant is entirely circular. Our entre production process is already completely waste-free. The product range has become much wider in recent years. Yes, the beet is a lot more than just sugar. Our ambition is to have non-sugar products account for a third of the profit we earn on sugar beet in 10 years’ time.”
Inspirational launch of the Bright Beet Book
Cosun Beet Company presented the Bright Beet Book to the world during a live online talk show on 25 November 2021. The first copy was symbolically handed to Dirk de Lugt, Chairman of the Royal Cosun cooperative of 9,000 sugar beet growers (equal to three-quarters of the arable farmers in the Netherlands). Participants in the talk show were inspired by guest speakers such as Werner Schouten (former chairman of the Young Climate Movement), Willemijn Witteveen (Director, Business Development, Avantium) and John Chapman (Senior Scientist Microbiology, Unilever), and top chef Estée Strooker gave a live cookery demonstration based on sugar beet. We want the book to inspire others and encourage them to enter into partnerships to create new applications and develop many more innovations that make for a brighter future.