Case study – Trondheim Kino

Success with “clean entertainment”

Popcorn, chocolate and drinks. Snacks are an important part of the movie experience for the 850,000 who visit Trondheim Kino every year. But even if the packaging is chosen with care, considerable amounts of rubbish are produced. The cinema took this challenge seriously, and today they state that the amount of residual waste has been significantly reduced, and this despite the fact that sales of kiosk goods have increased.

The process started when the cinema was to become Environmental Lighthouse certified. When it came to waste, it was decided to introduce more ambitious source sorting, and in the halls there were to be separate disposal points for bottles and residual waste.

In the halls, they wanted several smaller containers rather than a few large ones. The most important thing was that the solution should have a large enough capacity to remove the waste generated during a performance. However, the individual containers couldn’t be too large, so that children should be able to reach the top. The solution had to fit the venue and the cinema’s profile, but the function still had to be visible.

The solution

Røros Products had different solutions that differentiated them from their competitors. One of the solutions was the hole in the top of the container for return bottles, could be shaped like a bottle. It is often a challenge that users throw the wrong type of rubbish into the wrong container, but with such a top cover, there was no doubt as to what should go in it.

The containers for bottles could also be supplied with sound dampening plates. The bass in the cinema’s sound system creates vibrations in the room, and with this padding you avoid annoying noise from bottles vibrating against the metal walls of the container.

The results

The certification work started as a duty, but through the process the cinema saw the intrinsic value of it, and the possibilities that the certification offered.

– In many ways, we got a kinder egg. What we thought could be expensive and demanding, instead turned out to be easier and more cost-saving, says the cinema director Arild Kalksvik. An important reason for the success, is that the cinema early thought through how they could make use of this work, and defined an environmental goal that put this in a larger context.

“Trondheim Kino offers “clean entertainment” in all areas, and should appear as an environment friendly entertainment alternative. Trondheim Kino must influence customers, partners and employees to choose “clean” alternatives”

Today, the cinema can state that residual waste has decreased from 76 to 50 grams per cinema customer, and that they now only need to empty the residual waste container 6 times a year. Previously, this had to be emptied 113 times a year.

The most startling thing is that the cinema has achieved this large reduction in a period where there’s been an increase in the sale of kiosk goods. Arild Kalksvik believes that much of the success is due to the delivery and interaction with Røros Produkter. In addition, the work to raise public awareness is important, and here they take advantage of the fact that there has been a general change in attitude. The public today thinks about the environment, and expects to a greater extent that it is arranged for source sorting.