“It was supposed to be a first semester’s project, but since 2013 the waste bin has been on thousands of festivals and events in Denmark – now they are on their way to expand to the rest of Europe.”
What started as a school project has now turned into a business with four full-time employees. Heiða Nolsøe and Marie Berggreen invented the DropBucket waste bin as part of their first-semester project while studying design engineering at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).
Heiða Nolsøe and Marie Berggreen (Photo credit: Rikke Reetz)
The purpose of their project was to come up with a solution for waste management in Copenhagen. Realizing that waste management was often an afterthought for events organizers, they created an affordable, durable, and portable bin that was also sustainable.
(Photo credit: Marie S. Berggreen)
DropBucket is a waste bin created from recycled cardboard that comes with a PE-liner that makes the cardboard water-resistant. The foldable design reduces the amount of space required for storage and transportation and also enables a single person to carry up to ten bins at a time. The bin can be installed in less than one second with a simple push and the pyramid shaped gives it the added stability in windy conditions.
(Photo credit: Marie S. Berggreen)
(Photo credit: Tine Engedal)
After receiving a great feedback from their professors, the duo dedicated all their time in further research and developed the product with dedication. DropBucket had its first appearance in 2013 at Roskilde Festival – the biggest festival in northern Europe. They called the organizers just 14 days before the festival. The organisers said to them that it was too late, but when they were told about the idea, they loved it. The festival saw an environmentally friendly way to cut down on waste and decided to give DropBucket a go. It was a success, and the waste bins have been a feature at Roskilde Festival ever since. After the festival and the media coverage they received, investors began to approach them. In March 2014, P/F Royndin, an investor from the Faroe Islands, invested €175,000 into the DropBucket project.
(Photo credit: Tine Engedal)
The original portfolio of just one model for festival use has turned into three new DropBuckets for commercial and residential use, and distribution – which used to be limited to Denmark – now goes throughout the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Germany. Talks have also been commenced with distributors in Sweden, Norway and Austria.
(Photo credit: Marie S. Berggreen)