The Royal Danish Academy of Music
Complete waste solution tailored to an iconic building with aesthetically beautiful rooms
The Royal Danish Academy of Music (RDAM) is Denmark's oldest and largest professional music education institution with around 500 students.
RDAM has 18,000 m2 – including the Conservatory’s Concert Hall, which is considered one of the most beautiful in Denmark. The hall was designed by Vilhelm Lauritsen and inaugurated in 1945. Beautiful architecture created from unique materials requires a waste solution that can aesthetically fit into the interior.
The challenge
Waste sorting in beautiful premises
At RDAM, many people have their daily routines – as students, teachers, other employees or as guests. The proces of having a new waste solution therefore required a thorough mapping of the users’ movements as well as the types and quantities of waste.
The Conservatory of Music wanted to remove the many individual and randomly placed waste bins and to collect waste sorting at nodes around the buildings. At the same time, the desire was to have a durable and efficient waste solution that could fit in with the interior design. In addition, parts of the solution had to be able to be mounted on the wall to avoid an existing challenge of the waste bins being moved around and used as doorstops.
From waste to resources
It was incredibly important for us to have a waste solution that could aesthetically live up to the impressive architecture and design of the premises. The waste solution had to be visible without making noise.
Peter Brun Larsen, Head of Technical Assistants Department, RDAM
The solution
The Royal Conservatory of Music received a solution that matched all needs
After obtaining offers from three different suppliers, the choice fell on Bica waste sorting. Here, RDAM got the right combination of stylish waste furniture with the right capacity and functional details such as front doors with soft close, strong bag holders and differentiated inputs. At the same time, the offered solution could be installed on the wall with simple fittings. In other words, a high-quality indoor solution for waste sorting, with bins that were easy to clean and could withstand everyday use.
The solution was several different Bica models with different open inputs. Among them, Bica Model 869 with a square, oblong and round input. In this solution, residual waste, paper and plastic are sorted respectively. The differentiated inputs were to help make the different waste types visible. A square pictogram in Danish was attached to the front door and a narrower pictogram in English on the lid to accommodate international users.
From waste to resources
The differently shaped bins combined with clear pictograms in Danish and English are intended to contribute to more correct sorting of waste.
Peter Brun Larsen, Head of Technical Assistants Department, RDAM
Waste solution mounted on the wall with brackets
In the hallways, the waste systems were mounted with brackets on the wall to prevent employees and students from moving the solutions around. In this way, the waste solution became an integrated piece of furniture in the interior. By mounting the waste bins on the wall, cleaning the floor also became even easier, as the cleaning staff did not have to move the bins. In the canteen, foyers and entrance areas, the waste systems were placed on the floor for practical reasons and movable thanks to the wheels mounted behind the base.
Future expectations
The Academy of Music has expectations for more correct sorting
Overall, students, employees and guests have received Bica waste systems at RDAM very well. Missorting cannot be completely avoided, but it is their clear assessment that overall a lot of waste has been sorted, and that the amounts of, for example, residual waste have decreased. RDAM is continuously trying to inform users about correct waste sorting on notice boards and the intranet. As part of their green transition, RDAM would like to minimize missorting as much as possible, and they are ready to launch initiatives aimed at this if sorting does not go as expected. At present, the solutions are working as they should.
From waste to resources
We received a total solution for waste sorting of high quality and with an aesthetic expression that matched our other interior design. We are very satisfied with our choice of waste solution.
Peter Brun Larsen, Head of Technical Assistants Department, RDAM
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