Copenhagen Forever

Copenhagen Forever has emerged as a response to present-day "use and dispose" culture, where products quickly lose their novelty and become replaced by newer models. Today, each European produces on average 3.5 tonnes of waste per year, which becomes an astronomical 1.3 billion tonnes of waste annually in the European Union alone. Also, it is important to note that this figure does not include industrial or agricultural waste.

The idea behind the Copenhagen Forever is to design products, shelters and many other things using the waste produced by the city - in line with the Cradle to Cradle idea were waste is considered a resource rather than a problem. Copenhagen Forever designs are manufactured locally in Copenhagen, use local recycled materials and by-products of Copenhagen's residents, institutions, commerce and industry, and are created by local labour.

For me, an individual with a transportation nerd’s point of view, it is especially interesting to note that Copenhagen Forever includes transportation expenses as part of production costs. Many goods consumed in Denmark, are produced thousands of miles away, where wages are low and labour rights are non-existent. This only makes since because the cost of transportation is very low and only constitutes a very small part of the price for a television or a shoe.

Copenhagen Forever is designed products for home, work and public environments, but also exhibitions and events which aim to involve and inform Copenhagen of its potential to reuse and recycle materials. Copenhagen Forever seeks to spread awareness of waste as raw material and attempts to use design as a communication tool to inform and involve Copenhageners in the potential lifecycle of the city's waste. The goal is to get to the point where people understand the value of their waste and consequently sort it into different potential uses.

The Forever concept was started by the Danish designer Mette Bak Andersen, who has lived and practiced in Barcelona for the past five years. In 2008 she started Barcelona Forever, launching a series of events and workshops, and beginning work on the first product prototypes. Barcelona Forever works together with the municipality, the city's design schools and several private companies and cooperatives. Similarly, the aim in Copenhagen is to find support and cooperation from many different areas. Presently, Copenhagen X under the Danish Architecture Center has already given an advance approval to disseminate the project.

The Forever concept works to make cities sustainable - environmentally, economically and socially. The goal is to involve as many individuals, organizations, institutions, firms and universities as possible, thereby creating a broad understanding and a common responsibility for the city's material life cycle.