September 12, 2009

Social Action is the brain behind Co2penhagen’s waste concept. Co2penhagen is the world’s first CO2 neutral music festival.

With intense and immense help from students from the IT University of Copenhagen, Social Action led the development of the waste concept. The concept has been underway since May and was realised and worked for the 3 days the festival lasted.

In short, the concept was grounded in dogma that people’s waste sorting and behaviour HAD to make functional sense. If the sorted waste was burned in the same incinerator as usual, the sorting would become a mere spectacle and not reflect the complex solutions that are needed in the future.

As a respond to the challenge, we made a strategic alliance with coming-up waste-to-energy companies, such as Stirling DK, Viking and Bio Vækst. This led to 3 baskets with each their functional purpose at each of the 12 waste stations:

– 1 basket for used wooden plates and cutlery to create electricity and heat at the festival (Stirling DK and Viking),

– 1 for food left-overs to create manure and biogas for farmers in Sealand (Bio Vækst) and

– 1 for everything else that will be burned by Vestforbrændingen to create heat in homes in Sealand.

Please contact Tobias (tobias@socialaction.dk) for more information on the waste concept, research and development and execution.

Read article on the concept in Ingeniøren by clicking on this link.