A green fact about Copenhagen!

As eco-conscious citizens, we like to share all interesting green trivia with you that comes along our way :) . While going through my daily eco-friendly dose of web surfing, I came across an article about how Copenhagen is Europe's greenest city.

Styles, Ruth. Copenhagen: Europe's 'coolest' green city. www.theecologist.org, 16th Feb. 2011. http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/out_and_about/774428/copenhagen_europes_coolest_green_city.html

Cutting edge architecture, miles of cycle routes and green spaces galore have made the Danish capital a hotspot for green travellers. We’ve been hearing about Denmark’s whizziness on all things eco-friendly for years but what does that really mean in the Nordic capital of cool?

Host to the UN’s 2009 Climate Change Conference, unlike Cancun, Copenhagen is a city that practises what it preaches. The water in the inner harbour is so clean, you can take a dip in it while over a third of the city’s 1.1 million people regularly cycle to work, making Dronning Louise's Bro [Queen Louise's bridge], the busiest cycling spot in the western world. An estimated 35,000 cyclists stream across the bridge during morning rush hour, a seriously impressive figure especially when compared to London’s numbers: a paltry 20,500 cyclists in a city of 10 million people. And that’s not all. The Danish capital is a world-leader in clean technology and has pioneered eco-initiatives such as financial incentives to recycle plastic bottles and generous tax reductions when you switch to electric cars such as the Tesla. And the city’s green vibe has made it into just about everything: whether you’re looking for culture, relaxation or a serious party, Copenhagen has a green option for you.

Unsurprisingly, given the city’s reputation for being a street-style blogger’s paradise, Copenhagen has developed a knack for producing highly fashionable eco options as well. Home to some of fashion’s hottest green brands, the little alleys off main shopping street, Strøget, are packed with local eco-labels. Barbara I Gongini, Noir, Ecoture by Lund and Jackpot are just some of the high style, high sustainability brands available. With the city offering bicycle taxis and carbon neutral bus routes, the Danish government is expending all of its efforts to reduce pollution.
Whether it’s the residential area- Little Mermaid that floats your boat or the inner workings of a city eco-village , the Danish capital has plenty to inspire green travellers. From getting around to eating out, there’s always an eco-friendly alternative and it’s nearly always ultra-cool. And with the city leading the way in all things green, Copenhagen is a brilliant weekend destination that works for the environment as well as for you.

Challenges facing a 'green' business like us

After participating in a few exhibitions and the responses we got from the stores, these are some of the challenges we were confronted with:

• High price concern – Our target market is middle income households of housewives and the youth. People have had this false impression of recycled eco friendly products being low priced ever since the inception of the ‘green’ concept. It was not that easy to explain to the consumers that even though the raw material is bought at a low value, the time spent in processing it and making it usable adds a chunk to the labour cost. Employing all handmade processes also contributes to the high price factor.

• Negative notion of products being made from scrap – A lot of people were hesitant to buy products as they termed it as “stuff made from kachra”. That was rather a very unexpected notion we faced.

• Procuring & upcycling the right kind of scrap – Procuring waste & making it usable by employing eco-friendly methods as opposed to treating it with chemicals was challenging too. For instance, a few friends suggested reusing old VHS tapes (the black tape in video cassettes). It sounded like a good idea as these tapes are strong and flexible. Upon researching about them, I found out that their direct exposure to skin is hazardous in the long run. So we need to be very careful in procuring the right kind of waste.

• Converting the scrap into an object which doesn’t let the viewer guess that its actually an upcycled product – Our main USP was to reuse waste in such a way that it did not look like the product was a result of the upcycle process. Transforming this waste to make it not look like waste is not exactly easy! The recycling phenomenon in the minds of people is limited to products made of tetra packs, tyres, poly bags and paper. It was both challenging and interesting to change this mindset of people and explain to them how we can upcycle with simple day to day materials even at home

• Bringing about the awareness of the NEED to be environmentally conscious


We are optimists by having set up a business on a conviction that our economy is gradually becoming sustainable. Despite the challenges, we are steering ourselves towards a green economy facing while overcoming stiff resistance in the pursuit of a greener planet.