The demand for “healthy live and habitation” and innovative natural building materials has increased substantially during the last 10 years. Architects promote green building design and sustainable architecture, people ask for materials that are not damaging to health. Due to the EU White Paper on the Strategy for a future Chemicals Policy (2001), many of the currently toxic building materials will no longer be acceptable.

True earth plaster has very positive effects on indoor climate, health and the positive charisma of a building, and is produced in a complete sustainable manner. It regulates air-moisture and temperature, absorbs pollutants, prevents mould, and is renewable, recyclable, energy efficient and durable. Despite of the high potential market and the unbeatable positive effects of earth plaster, most earth plaster producers nowadays are not able to serve profitable a national or international market. Main reasons are:

1. Missing professional technology able to produce high quantities of high quality earth plaster in an efficient way, competitive to the conventional plasters and
2. Unsatisfying quality of existing earth plasters: large cracks during drying process, fungus-grow due to wrong processed additives, relatively rough wall surfaces.

The partners of PLASTER⁺ aim to improve this situation (see Objectives).