What Clean2Anywhere does

Clean2Anywhere (Stichting Clean2Anywhere, formerly Clean2Antarctica, rebranded January 2019) is a Dutch non-profit foundation headquartered at the Schelphoek shipyard in Hoorn, North Holland. The organization builds functional seagoing vessels — workboats, a speeljacht, and a planned 30+ meter fluitschip targeting 2030 — entirely from waste plastic (HDPE, LDPE, PET) using 17th-century Dutch shipbuilding techniques adapted to recycled materials. Its core technical capabilities include fiber-reinforced plastic laminates, a custom solar-powered buigoven operating at 130°C, plastic plank welding, and traditional rope-making from synthetic waste yarn. The shipyard operates fully off-grid using repurposed EV batteries from EcarAccu. The organization also produces C2A Homes, modular tiny houses built from demolition wood, recycled plastic, and shredded-denim insulation, sold to social housing providers (a 16-unit pilot with Platform Westfriese Wooncorporaties).

The organization's dual mission combines circular-economy materials innovation with social reintegration: ships are built by cohorts of 15-20 volunteers and WerkSaam Westfriesland-placed participants with distance to the labor market. Reported outcomes include 6 of 15 first-cohort participants finding paid work within 4 months, ~6 tonnes of waste diverted per tiny house, and 500+ hand-made plastic pieces per workboat. The enterprise is volunteer-led with 6 employees and revenue derived from donations, magazine sales (€10 suggested donation), corporate event fees, and small-scale tiny-house sales rather than traditional product revenue. Distribution runs through earned media (BBC, NOS, National Geographic), a monthly PlasTIK YouTube documentary, the Schelphoek shipyard as an experiential site, annual events including All Hands On Deck Summer Festival, and an ambassador/stadsjutters community program. A first international shipyard was opened in Sète, France (2022), and the C2A Homes factory relocated from Hoorn to Zaanstad in 2024.

Name

Clean2Anywhere

Legal name

Stichting Clean2Anywhere

Website

https://clean2a.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Clean2Anywhere is a Dutch non-profit foundation that builds functional ships, boats, and modular tiny houses from waste plastic using 17th-century Dutch shipbuilding techniques, while providing reintegration pathways for people with distance to the labor market.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sustainable Shipbuilding

NAICS

Ship Building and Repairing (336611)

SIC

Ship & Boat Building & Repairing (3730), Prefabricated Wood Bldgs & Components (2452)

akta.pro primary industry

Sandwich Panels & Core Materials (Foam, Balsa, Honeycomb) (IMAJAKAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Yard Layout & Production Facilities (Assembly Bays, Block Fabrication Shops, Warehouses) (IMAJALAG)

Keywords

• Recycled plastic shipbuilding
• Circular construction boats
• Waste plastic manufacturing
• Modular tiny houses
• Social reintegration shipyard

Headquarters

HQ city

Hoorn

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Donations and charitable contributions: Clean2Anywhere operates as a foundation (stichting) relying on donations from individuals and organizations. The website features a dedicated 'Doneren' (donate) page. The organization invites investment in its ships, positioning backers as partners in the first fully circular and inclusive shipping company in the Netherlands.
2. C2A Magazine sales: The first magazine 'De Schone Route' is offered for free with a donation of €10, including shipping. This provides a minor revenue stream while spreading the mission's story.
3. C2A Homes tiny house sales: Clean2Anywhere operates a C2A Homes factory producing modular tiny houses from construction demolition wood, recycled plastic, and recycled denim insulation. Houses are sold to social housing providers. Platform Westfriese Wooncorporaties ordered 16 units as a pilot. Demonstrated competitive pricing vs. traditional construction.
4. Event hosting and corporate experiences: The shipyard hosts corporate events, meetings, and excursions for businesses and government groups seeking sustainability inspiration. This generates revenue through event fees while raising brand awareness.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Clean2Anywhere builds seagoing 17th-century Dutch-style ships (workboats, speeljacht, and a planned full-scale fluitschip) entirely from waste plastic using traditional shipbuilding techniques combined with proprietary processing methods including a solar-powered buigoven and fiber-reinforced laminates. The organization also operates C2A Homes, a factory producing modular tiny houses from demolition wood, recycled plastic, and recycled denim insulation, sold to social housing providers. The shipyard serves as a circular manufacturing site and reintegration workplace, powered off-grid by repurposed EV batteries.

Product overview

Clean2Anywhere is a collective of 'rethinkers' and practical doers who build ships, boats, and tiny houses entirely from plastic waste, pursuing a circular economy mission. The product portfolio centers on the 'evolution of waste plastic ships' — starting with small 17th-century workboats (werkboten: Lankhorst, Schelphoek, Karperkuil, Koeman), progressing to a larger speeljacht (pleasure yacht), and ultimately building a full-scale fluitschip (Dutch East India Company trading ship) by 2030 requiring approximately 350 tons of plastic. Parallel to this, C2A Homes produces modular tiny houses from demolition wood, shredded textiles, and recycled plastic, each rescuing about 6 tons of waste. The organization originated from the Solar Voyager expedition to Antarctica in 2018, which demonstrated the potential of 3D-printed waste plastic vehicles powered by solar energy. Additional offerings include ropes made from waste lifting slings and the Stadsjutters community program for urban plastic collection.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• C2A Homes: A modular tiny house project building homes from waste wood, plastic, and textile for people in housing need.
• C2A Schepen

Products and services

• Werkboten (Workboats) Small 17th-century style work boats (werkboten) constructed entirely from recycled plastic waste. Multiple boats have been built including the Lankhorst, Schelphoek, Karperkuil, and Koeman. These vessels serve as both practical craft and experimental learning vehicles for the larger fluitschip project.
• Speeljacht (Pleasure Yacht) A 17th-century style pleasure yacht built from recycled plastic, three times larger than the workboats. This vessel represents the next step in the 'evolution of waste plastic ships' and is being constructed as a precursor to the full-size fluitschip.
• C2A Homes (Tiny Houses) Modular tiny houses constructed from waste materials including demolition wood, shredded jeans (insulation), and recycled plastic foundations. Each house rescues approximately 6 tons of waste from landfills or incinerators. Built with a 'material passport' for disassembly and material reuse. Sold to social housing providers.
• Touwen/Ropes from Waste Ropes created from waste lifting slings in collaboration with Enduro Softslings, providing circular rigging for the waste plastic fleet. Produced using traditional rope-making techniques (touwslagerij) by volunteers including people with intellectual disabilities.
• Solar Voyager The original expedition vehicle: a 3D-printed terrain vehicle with a core made from recycled plastic, powered entirely by solar energy. Edwin and Liesbeth ter Velde traveled to the South Pole with this vehicle in 2018, demonstrating the potential of waste plastic as a construction material.
• C2A Magazine 'De Schone Route' Annual/periodic magazine telling the mission story, volunteer interviews, and project updates. Distributed for a €10 donation, serving as both fundraising and awareness channel.
• Stadsjutters (Urban Jaybirds) Community Program A network of volunteers who collect plastic waste from urban environments. Recognized as 'urban jaybirds' who save plastic from becoming pollution, receiving honorary recognition for their environmental contributions via a public register on clean2a.nl.
• Corporate Event Hosting and Sustainability Tours The shipyard hosts corporate events, meetings, and excursions for businesses and government groups seeking sustainability inspiration. Pricing is contact-based.

Quantifiable outcome

• 3 of 15 young people in first WerkSaam cohort found paid work within 4 months; 3 enrolled in education; rest made measurable progress on participation ladder
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

17 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• WerkSaam WestfrieslandcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020WerkSaam Westfriesland is the primary reintegration partner, placing cohorts of young people (15-20 per group) with distance to the labor market at the Clean2Anywhere shipyard. Youth coaches from WerkSaam provide daily on-site guidance. In the first cohort, 6 of 15 participants found paid work within 4 months. Partnership is described as a 'fantastic re-integratieplek' (fantastic reintegration place) by director Marjolijn Dölle.
• Schermer InstallatietechniekcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSchermer Installatietechniek (Hoorn) designed and built a custom solar-powered buigoven (bending oven) for shaping plastic boat frame components. The oven operates at 130°C for ~7 hours to make plastic planks bendable without melting. This reduced boat build time by ~1–1.5 months per vessel. Schermer describes the collaboration as a chance to contribute technical expertise to a local social cause rather than a transactional relationship.
• EcarAccucoreTechnology or IntegrationEcarAccu (Zwaag, Netherlands) repurposes damaged or defective electric vehicle batteries for second-life applications. Clean2Anywhere uses these recycled batteries to power its fully off-grid shipyard, replacing grid electricity, gas, and water connections. Pieter Ursem founded EcarAccu after growing frustrated with discarding functional EV battery components.
• Enduro SoftslingscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEnduro Softslings (onshore/offshore heavy lifting slings manufacturer) supplies residual synthetic yarn from sling production and rejected sling material. Clean2Anywhere uses this waste yarn to make ropes for the fleet ('afvalplastic touwslagerij'). In return, Clean2Anywhere helps Enduro develop a circular business model by finding productive reuse for its waste materials. Joint experiments developing fiber-reinforced plastic tapes are underway.
• Tall ship MorgenstercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTall ship Morgenster serves as the first Official C2A Rope Testing Centre, testing the waste-plastic ropes developed with Enduro Softslings at sea in real weather conditions. This partnership validates the ropes' durability and maritime suitability.
• Ooms VastgoedcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOoms Vastgoed signed a contract for the use of a schiereilandje (small peninsula) on the Markermeer, which became the site of the Clean2Anywhere shipyard. This land agreement was essential for establishing the working facility.
• Platform Westfriese WooncorporatiescoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPlatform Westfriese Wooncorporaties (social housing platform) ordered 16 modular tiny houses from C2A Homes as a circular building pilot project. This is the primary commercial customer for the C2A Homes division, demonstrating that waste-based construction can meet social housing needs at competitive prices.
• De Haagse Hogeschool (Hogeschool)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStudent Esmée Amsen from De Haagse Hogeschool (chemical technology program) conducted material research at Clean2Anywhere, attempting to reinforce recycled plastic to oak-wood stiffness levels (20x stronger) for use as mast material. Research showed 4x stiffness improvement achieved but full target not yet reached.
• Scouting VPV Hoorn (Vaandrig Peetoom Vendel)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWaterscouts of Scouting VPV Hoorn co-developed an ecovlet (lelievlet) of waste plastic with Edwin ter Velde. The boat was subsequently visited by Queen Maxima and Hoorn's mayor Jan Nieuwenburg. The scouts use the boat for watersport activities, demonstrating circular solutions to youth.
• PontMeyer and JongeneelminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerConstruction material suppliers PontMeyer and Jongeneel supplied demolition wood (sloophout) for the Clean2Amsterdam trade mission cargo and for use in the C2A Homes tiny house construction. Demonstrates industry collaboration in circular construction.
• Kringloopbedrijf RataplanminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSocial reuse enterprise Rataplan supplied textile waste (balen textiel from old jeans) as insulation material for the C2A Homes tiny houses, demonstrating cross-sector circular economy collaboration.
• Zeilschip De VrijbuiterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSailing ship De Vrijbuiter partnered for the annual All Hands On Deck Summer Festival hosted at the C2A shipyard. The Vrijbuiter moored at the marina and provided music and entertainment for the public event, combining maritime heritage with circular economy messaging.
• De Makerij (Wilgaerden en Leekerweide)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDe Makerij is a day-activity center whose clients (from Wilgaerden and Leekerweide) cut and sort waste plastic at the shipyard as part of their participation program. The naaiatelier (sewing workshop) also makes cushions for the stadsjutters exhibition at the Westfries Museum.
• Start FoundationminorOthersThe Start Foundation introduced the concept of 'Open Hiring' to the Netherlands. Clean2Anywhere's philosophy of welcoming everyone regardless of background or credentials is inspired by this concept, though the organization is not an official Open Hiring licensee.
• Hogere Technische School (HTS/HMC) ScheepsbouwminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStudents from the maritime college (Hogere Technische School / HMC) will assist with building traditional wooden masts for the speeljacht using historical techniques. The masts cannot yet be made from recycled plastic due to scale/experimental limitations.
• Stichting View (Kunstwerk Pluis)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStichting View and artist Kianoosh Gerami partnered for the Pluis (fish nets) art installation — 4-meter-high roaming hands made from discarded fishing nets — displayed at the All Hands On Deck Summer Festival, raising awareness of marine plastic pollution.
• Ab Hoving (ship historian)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAb Hoving, former chief restoration of ship models at the Rijksmuseum and maritime historian, provides historical guidance on 17th-century shipbuilding techniques. He advises on how to adapt historical methods to recycled plastic materials while maintaining authenticity, contributing intellectual credibility and compelling storytelling to the project.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Precious Plastic: Dutch open-source community developing machines and knowledge for small-scale plastic recycling worldwide. Comparable DIY/community-driven approach to plastic processing and shared Dutch origin, though focused on recycling infrastructure rather than vessel construction.
• Plastic Whale: Dutch company that builds boats (whale boats) from plastic waste fished out of Amsterdam's canals and runs plastic-fishing events. Closest peer to Clean2Anywhere in terms of activity (building functional boats from waste plastic), geography (Netherlands), and mission (circular economy with social impact).
• The Ocean Cleanup: Dutch non-profit developing technologies to remove plastic from oceans and rivers. Same ocean-plastic mission and Dutch origin as Clean2Anywhere, but operates at much larger scale and focuses on cleanup rather than constructing vessels from the material.
• Parley for the Oceans: Global organization collaborating with brands (Adidas, IKEA) to replace virgin plastic with recycled marine plastic in consumer products. Shares Clean2Anywhere's ocean plastic advocacy and material innovation mission, though focuses on brand partnerships rather than construction.
• Plastic Bank: Global social enterprise that stops ocean-bound plastic by building recycling communities in developing countries and converting waste into Social Plastic credits. Shares Clean2Anywhere's circular economy plus social impact dual mission, though Plastic Bank operates through collection networks rather than physical construction.
• Bureo: Chilean company (now part of Patagonia) that upcycles discarded fishing nets into skateboards, sunglasses, and other consumer products. Directly comparable upcycling model — taking hard-to-recycle plastic waste and turning it into durable commercial products.
• Waste Free Oceans: European foundation partnering with companies, ports, and fishermen to transform recovered ocean plastic into products and infrastructure. Similar upcycling mission and European footprint, though focused on partnerships and product development rather than shipbuilding.

Emerging players

• ByFusion: US-based startup producing construction-grade building blocks from mixed recycled plastic without requiring sorting or washing. Comparable recycled-plastic-as-construction-material focus to Clean2Anywhere's C2A Homes, though ByFusion focuses on building blocks rather than vessels.
• Ioniqa Technologies: Dutch company (acquired by Unilever) that developed chemical recycling technology to depolymerize PET back into virgin-grade monomer. Comparable Dutch origin and PET/plastic recycling focus, though Ioniqa operates in chemical recycling infrastructure rather than physical shipbuilding.

Broad incumbents

• Damen Shipyards: Major Dutch shipbuilding group producing a wide range of workboats, tugs, patrol vessels, and offshore vessels. Provides industry context as a broad incumbent in Dutch shipbuilding; Clean2Anywhere's small craft operate at a different scale and with a recycled-plastic twist rather than competing directly.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@clean2anywhere
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/clean2anywhere

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Clean2Anywhere