{"id":1946,"date":"2026-07-21T09:08:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T07:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ikwilcirculairinkopen.nl\/en\/?p=1946"},"modified":"2026-08-06T09:12:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T07:12:21","slug":"circular-depreciation-in-the-municipality-of-heerenveen-materials-retain-their-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ikwilcirculairinkopen.nl\/en\/circular-depreciation-in-the-municipality-of-heerenveen-materials-retain-their-value\/","title":{"rendered":"Circular Depreciation in the Municipality of Heerenveen: \u201cMaterials Retain Their Value\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Materials in buildings retain value, even after fifty years. Yet municipalities often write off buildings completely. The municipality of Heerenveen does it differently. They only depreciate down to the value the materials still have. This remaining value creates room for circular choices, without exceeding the budget.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spoke with Marjan Draaijer-de Vries<\/a>, Program Leader for Circular Society, and Lennert Marinus<\/a>, Program Manager for Educational Housing, about their experience with circular depreciation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does financial residual value mean to you?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Normally, you depreciate a building to zero over fifty years. We depreciate down to the value that the materials still have at that point. We calculate the residual value based on the purchase price, minus costs for dismantling, transport, and storage. Reusable materials yield more than recyclable ones. That creates financial space\u2014if you invest five million euros, five percent residual value already gives you 250,000 euros. We use that space for better materials, demountable constructions, or biobased insulation.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What prompted you to start this?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Our municipal council decided to make circular building the standard. Not as a future ambition, but as the new normal. We want to be a leader in the circular society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Frisian municipalities are members of the Circular Friesland<\/a> association, together with almost two hundred other members such as SMEs, construction parties and educational institutions. In the Friesland Builds Circular program, as clients, we look at how we can procure and build circularly. Every municipality participates in pilots. We do this with educational housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We heard that the municipality of Leeuwarden was working with financial residual value. That sounded interesting. We started exploring it with our finance department. Is this possible? What does our accountant think? It was exciting. How can you be sure that materials will still have value in fifty years? But actually, it makes sense: you don\u2019t write off your material to zero, do you? Even if you recycle it, it still has value.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you approach it?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2018It had already been done in Leeuwarden, but for our accountant, circular depreciation was still new. There were risks involved, and accountants want to build in safeguards. That\u2019s why we had many conversations to justify it properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We built in certainty in four ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n