Carlsberg Italia’s Project Transforms Plastic Kegs into Public Space Furniture

FDT Bureau

Launched in October 2021 within Milan’s Bovisa district, Carlsberg Italia’s Take Back-Give Back project is aimed to repurpose waste materials while enhancing the social well-being of the local community. Carlsberg Italia collaborated with citizens, Milan Politecnico students, curator Davide Crippa and the district municipality to transform 2,500 kg of plastic kegs into public space furniture. Here is a detailed report on FURNITURE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY (FDT).

The inspiration for the project stemmed from the Carlsberg Group’s Ocean OC2 project in 2021, which involved creating garden furniture from exhausted DraughtMaster kegs. For the recently concluded Milan edition, Carlsberg Italia focused on engaging with the local community, aligning with themes of collectiveness and sustainability.

Key collaborators included Design Differente, a waste-originated materials fab-lab, and Republic of Design, an association regenerating Milanese suburbs. Additional support came from Legambiente, the Municipality of Milan and design students from Politecnico. The recycling process was optimized for quality and efficiency. PET kegs were shredded by Innovando, and then transported to Design Differente’s fab-lab for processing. A mixture of PET, nylon and polypropylene had been used to craft various keg parts, forming bars that were turned into outdoor furniture through industrial extrusion.

Aligned with Carlsberg Group’s commitment to sustainability, the Take Back-Give Back project contributes to their Zero Packaging Waste goal. The project’s positive impact on reducing CO₂ emissions in furniture manufacturing has been recognized.

Image credit: Carlsberg Italia X Design Differente