In today’s episode of the Circular Economy Show, we travel to Malmö, the city hosting the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest. We’re joined by Malmö’s sustainability coordinator, Veronika Hoffmann, to explore how the city has applied circular principles when planning this internationally acclaimed event.
From decorations to infrastructure, food and local business connections, there’s a lot to think about when hosting an event the size of the Eurovision Song Contest. There are also lots of opportunities to make a circular impact with it. In today’s episode of the Circular Economy Show, we travel to Malmö, the city hosting the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest. We’re joined by Malmö’s sustainability coordinator, Veronika Hoffmann, to explore how the city has applied circular principles when planning this internationally acclaimed event.
Do you want to read about other examples of circular cities? Don’t miss out on our examples of circular economy in cities.
Find out more about how the City of Malmö’s plans for Eurovision.
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Pippa Shawley 00:02
What do Céline Dion, Måneskin, and ABBA all have in common? They’ve all won the Eurovision Song Contest!Welcome to the Circular Economy Show. I’m Pippa, and in today’s episode, we’re travelling to Sweden to learn how the city of Malmo is preparing to host this year’s show using the principles of a circular economy. This weekend, millions of television viewers across Europe and beyond will tune in to watch the Eurovision Song Contest. If you’ve never seen it, I’ll skip over the complicated scoring system and the reasons why non-European countries such as Australia are allowed to compete. Just imagine acts from 37 countries performing everything from Europop to heavy metal, with a side of emotional ballads. After two live semi-finals, 26 acts will perform at the Grand Final on Saturday. Singer Loreen won the contest for the second time last year, which means that her home country of Sweden gets to play host this time. The southern coastal city of Malmö has been selected to stage this year’s event, which extends far beyond the stadium shows. Last year the British city of Liverpool hosted Eurovision on behalf of the 2022 winners, Ukraine. The city reported that 473,000 people attended Eurovision events across the city, of which 306,000 were additional visitors heading to Liverpool to be part of the celebrations. So how has Malmö prepared for this year’s event with circularity in mind? I spoke to Veronika Hoffmann, the City of Malmö’s sustainability coordinator to find out. She believes Malmö’s compact size makes it the perfect location for Eurovision.
Veronika Hoffmann 01:43
We are young very young population city, we are an urban environment that has been working with a lot of sustainable urban development and transitioning from from an industrial past to kind of knowledge and creative industry sphere more and more since the 90s. I believe we have been going through really big infrastructural development phases ever since the 90s. So today, your vision is really taking place in in infrastructure setup that is really built on a compact size with the with the existing infrastructure that can can actually welcome an event without the need of adding on that much in both the arena but also the conference and Congress Centre Malmö Live but also Folkets Park, which is like the People's Park in the city.
Pippa Shawley 02:48
The size of the city also means it's easy for visitors to navigate on foot, by bike or by public transport, something that's particularly useful when exploring Malmö is dedicated Eurovision areas. As Veronica mentioned Folkets Park, one of the city's most popular public places, has been transformed into the Eurovision village for the week preceding the final, offering free concerts, workshops and other activities for locals and visitors alike. Meanwhile, the pedestrianised road frizz garden has become Eurovision Street, linking Eurovision village to one of the city's main train stations and offering passers by the chance to try food from around the world and encounter musical surprises. And Malmo live Congress and concert hall where the opening ceremony takes place is a stone's throw from the Central Station. The host city has less than a year to prepare for the event. But Malmo had an advantage. It's already hosted the event twice before in 1992 and 2013. Plus Corinne Carlson, your vision project manager for the city of Malmo also worked on the 2013 event. Veronica says that this previous experience helped the city focus on sustainable practices.
Veronika Hoffmann 04:02
So we got into the picture when when it was decided that we are to host the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö. And actually 2013 sustainability focus has been in such a part of hosting Eurovision then as well. And so the way we did it because you obviously have a very Very quick planning process here, it gets very, very quick and active. And really yeah, a lot of decisions are made on on many levels all the time. So in order to align that and to bring sustainability to the forefront, you need some kind of systematic work. So we certified the Eurovision Song Contest, or the hosting of Eurovision Song Contest already in 2013. And then we used ISO standard. So now when Karin was projected, again, she wanted it to get certified again. So this is when we got into the picture from our department in order to so to say, run that kind of process and to make sure that we that we have a sustainable event happening here. But then you obviously you're like, Okay, what does that mean? How to what to focus on? So, so we, we try to figure out how you can actually so to say what, what's already decided, what kind of setup do we have here? What's part of hosting Eurovision, I mean, I didn't do it before, so you try to understand what it's actually like the the setup what what is possible to, to do with that. And, and then you start to build some kind of concept around what can be like the, the more the like the stronger the part of the storytelling and what can be like really highlighted in, in that kind of work that basically, I mean, we try to be sustained sustainable on all levels when it comes to all decisions in how we host the event here. And that. And since we're also so to say we're working here a lot on like that kind of strategic work to align with, with our all the different goals and political set. We're working towards climate transition in a very like organised way we have transition areas. So for us, it got very clear here that the circular transition is something that is very tangible and will and can be touched upon in a great way when hosting Eurovision.
Pippa Shawley 06:47
With Malmö already working on it set colour transition, Veronika and her team could think about how to apply their existing work to Eurovision unique needs.
Veronika Hoffmann 06:57
It comes in so many on so many levels, and the first so to say the first level is maybe the infrastructure level. And since we use a lot of the infrastructure that is in place already, we don't need to use so many resources. So this was a starting point to start thinking about how we can tell the story of our circular transition through the lens of Eurovision because basically, it's not about inventing something. When you when you plan Eurovision and you try to work sustainably you need to make sure to use the resources that you already have developed in the city. And we have been working with the with circular transition for a while now here. And at the same time, something that was important for me as well was that we have the city, not only the municipality and the infrastructure that we develop, we also have the cultural field, the businesses and where they are moving, and they are progressing a lot in the circular field at the moment especially in like themes that are very tangible when you come and want to experience the city during a very short and brief time, then you want to grab a snack, you want to celebrate, you want to feel the vibes, you want to see how people... the lifestyle around here. And and I think in Malmö, it's very, we have a lot to tell through that kind of lifestyle related context. So I wanted to bring that also into into the focus. So from infrastructure to like, circular fashion, somewhere in between there, we have tried to narrow the project down towards telling that story. And then all of the sudden the decorations project just got all so to say just just really found a way to really embark on that kind of circular idea based on on the perspectives that we brought in but then they really like found ways to express that and we started working together more and more and then it got even more tangible because their creations something that may be it's called often city dressing but we sort of this both city dressing is more like the the stuff that we have to put up so it will be visible for Eurovision, but then the decorations, the seating the public space and how you can experience it. There we've really got that kind of circular concept running.
Pippa Shawley 09:43
And so can we go into the specifics of those a little bit? So where does the eliminate circulate regenerate parts of the sector economy come into the work that you've been doing?
Veronika Hoffmann 09:52
I mean, it comes in many shapes. But I will start with the with the decorations, because I think this department really what department where this, this group, these colleagues really took it into their own hands and found ways to work with that context in a great way. So I mean, it's always hard to, to choose from the I will start from from one. And then maybe I built upon because I don't want to, like meet it to simplify it, you don't want to like sound simple, right? So maybe I will introduce first, the guidelines for ourselves. When it comes to decorations, we decided that the first step is to check what we already have. And this sounds may be simple, but I mean, if you have an organisation with 20,000 - 27,000 colleagues, as the city of Malmo is you don't know exactly where things are. And this you can do in the parks and streets department, which also works with events. And we found a lot of materials that have the perfect heart shapes. And, you know, like the infrastructure that you can just bring out again.
Pippa Shawley 11:15
The next step for Veronika's team was to think about how to procure the things they didn't already have in storage,
Veronika Hoffmann 11:21
Then we decided, if we are to buy something new, or if we are to purchase something, it doesn't need to be new. In the, when we purchase something we check first, if we can use with if we can purchase it in some way that we either lended or rented, or if we are to buy something, maybe it's already made based on material that is reused or upcycled. So but if we had to buy something new, we need to have a plan that goes beyond Eurovision to have, to use it. And not, it doesn't mean that it will be like placed in this place for another week, we need to have a long term plan, why we need that resource on the long term base.
Pippa Shawley 12:10
The location of these items was also important for Veronika.
Veronika Hoffmann 12:14
Then we also decided that we will work with a very local perspective. So if we are to learn the rent or so on buying, we try to source it locally. And then if we are also to buy things we always aim for, for materials that have the least so so to say have a great standard both ecologically but also socially and so on. And we also decided that no matter how big or small we bring this, these kind of measures into focus no matter how big the choice are small choices. So and and what does it look like? For example, we have a huge Automated textile sorting infrastructure that we have developed in the city some years ago. And this is where textile material come in order to get sorted in order to then be redistributed again, in order to be upcycled into new textile materials of any kind, but a lot of materials and being stored there. And then the idea came up, what materials is it? And how can we use it? Is there a way to find the right materials for us that we can shape into something that can become decorations. And then when we contacted CSEF, which is the owner of that infrastructure, it's our waste management, one of our waste management companies, so to see public companies, they were like, yeah, probably, there is definitely we have a lot of polyester come here, check it because no one wants it at the moment. But then, the next moment was like, huh, but probably it's like, dark blue, like Navy, black greenish, and we're like, Okay, now, this doesn't work for Eurovision because we have to stick to the concept of the you know, the Eurovision lights, we have the scheme of colours and we have to deliver that. But then basically, we found the right colours. And now we have been working in order to, to make it into decorations. And there we also included the social enterprise, which is another like strong leg in the municipal work of Malmo that we have been experimenting a lot on how we can bring social sustainability and, and into focus. And both support external organisations that work with that, but also have like, different departments working within our organisation. So we have handcraft, which is social enterprise that is within our own municipal body that works with people with psychological distress. And they start in this between that kind of material flow and the this kind of these people, and that can we shape the collaboration that creates tassels, that will be part of decoration of Eurovision street.
Pippa Shawley 15:31
Food is another important focus for Veronika and her team, as it's where Malmö is multicultural population and good agricultural conditions meet.
Veronika Hoffmann 15:40
It's really important to us. And we have a lot of innovation in that field happening that really brings together small scale producers And the whole like field of gastronomy and urban farming, it's in, it has a moment here. And you can really, really have a very, like, low climate impact, high quality, food experience and moment. And so we we have in the visitors guide, which is as well[?], we have a digital visitor's guide. And there we sort of highlight all of that for for the, for the visitor, and yeah, our national dish is the falafel, but like, so we also have a map of all the falafel places and why it is so important to us. There's a whole story to that. But beyond that, really like low climate impact food, vegetarian, often, it's a standard in Malmö, and it comes in many shapes and forms. And we really want you to, to be able to experience that that, it doesn't mean that you that you give away something if you're if you try that kind of lifestyle here.
Pippa Shawley 16:52
While Eurovision can be a great demonstrator for the circular transition, it isn't without its difficulties, as the multiple stakeholders mean, it's challenging to set comprehensive goals, says Veronika.
Veronika Hoffmann 17:04
We have been touching upon like kind of areas that we have to train in more, we felt that directly because this is not where we got all while, this is not where puzzle pieces really got together in the best way. And one of those was the, believe it or not, but it's it's like the single use cups and so on. I mean, we wanted to get to try to avoid and we still do that. And I think we actually get I mean, now it's it's just the priority to get rid of all this single use stuff as much as possible. But then within the limit of where we are, so to say what when the city really is part of of negotiating, like some kind of supply of food or drinks. So not for the whole of the city, we would come down but but it was kind of I mean, it really was kind of not the easiest thing to do. Even though we have you know, we have public schools serving food all the time, and they don't serve it in single use. So I mean, we have a lot of infrastructure actually in in, in our organisation. We also have companies, several companies, local companies here that have these kinds of setups and new services. But we couldn't like we couldn't navigate that field. Because food and drinks come in very different kinds of context and sub projects into your vision. So it was really hard to to get it all packaged well. Same thing, for example for like the volunteer and the clothing for for everyone who staff and volunteers and so on. I mean, in in the perfect world, and there are examples about it... but they are quite often they are still they come in in this kind of more festival related contexts. Because the festival is more like one bubble. At least that's what I believe. Here we have a lot of different bubbles and you know we have it doesn't, it's not a closed world. It's still like in touch with the rest of the city and everything that still happens and are so so we didn't manage to have to have a concept set where we would, so to say have a much more circular approach towards the closing for staff and volunteers. Because it comes with a lot of affection as well. At least that's like the idea that people really want to have it. And to to, to sort of do what do you call it to not give it away after Eurovision to sleep and the t shirt that they were working in. But I think we could have found like that we could have like, channelled that affection into something else. But we didn't have the time. And we didn't have the setup. And so, but anyway, we have we we still delivered like a sustainable concept on that, but not not that circular.
Pippa Shawley 20:10
Despite this, the city of Malmö has still set some ambitious goals for itself.
Veronika Hoffmann 20:15
Yeah, we have we have put up some some measures that we've followed, KPIs, you could call right some like quantitative measures around the circularity of our infrastructure. So so we will look into into those measures that we have put up and they I mean, for example, we have we have to set it at least 70% of everything that we did, so to say used in order to decorate the city, and that excludes this if we exclude city dressing from that because this is something that we can't negotiate on the city dressing in the same way because city dressing is all all the material that is really like the branding of Eurovision that we have to put up but 70% otherwise should come in another way than to be like bought. So it's either mended or, or it's upcycled, or it's reuse or, and so on and so on. And at least 90%, including the city dressing is something that will have a function or will be reshaped in order to have a function in, in, in the city, after Eurovision. So there the planning comes in what to do with all the, with all the material that has been created for the for the decorations. So we measure success by following up on that, as one of the parts, we have a lot of other areas that we have KPIs for I don't know if I should talk about them, because it's not circular economy in focus there. This is the focus for for the circular flow. So what we buy, purchase, reuse and so on.
Pippa Shawley 22:08
We've talked a lot about the circular side of circular economy, can we do it quickly talk about the economics of it? Is it costing you more to do these things? Is it costing you less? What does that look like?
Veronika Hoffmann 22:23
Since that there is very limited time to be extremely like out of the box creative with how we what kind of supplies we how we supply ourselves. So we we, in some way, we really tap into different procurements that we have developed throughout the years. Now, as I mentioned, the circular furnishing, we have a circular sign procurement, and several of these kinds of procurements. And part of the procurement is that we negotiate very good prices for the city as well. I mean, that's there is I mean, there's there is an economic incentive, as well. So, so I will, I would say that our economy that I mean, we have a budget, that is basically the same as 2013, the world has moved on, and money has become much less worth since then. But but we also, so to say, the Karin ?project that you said yeah, but we have already learned a lot of mistakes. So we don't have to do the mistakes again. And we even have like all this infrastructure in place. So we have kind of the same budget. And we are not to not everything is included in the budget. Obviously, we have a lot of work that comes more like in that is budgeted by the normal municipal work. So it's not like part of that budget. But when it comes to to, to like anything that we purchase in different ways. It's all part of the budget. And I would say that we are actually keeping it kind of well, in the in the in the in the kind of good. What do you call it? We when we're keeping up with a budget, basically. So so no, I wouldn't say that it cost us more it rather cost us much more negotiations, discussions, meetings, collaborations, and I mean, all of that asked for, for a focus and a lot of like detail work, seeing the bigger picture and all the details and so on. But I wouldn't say that the economic that the economy is... is it's rather supporting our like, kind of idea of having a decent economy for that project, because we really want other countries to see that it can be done without putting too much money into it.
Pippa Shawley 24:52
Yeah and stop hiding behind this excuse that it's too expensive to even try. Yeah, well, you've been working on this event for almost a year, what are you looking forward to seeing when your revision rolls into town, personally?
Veronika Hoffmann 25:07
I mean, it's really like, when you work with events, a lot of things happen in like a different kind of documents for a long time. And then now it becomes more and more tangible. So it starts to, we start to produce a lot of things. But basically, I mean, it's only during that week that everything is visible. So all of the sudden, you have everything that you have been planning and thinking about. And I mean, no matter how much you plan, it always feels different, looks different, smells different than when when it's real. So I'm really looking forward to that kind of crescendo. I don't know what it's about kind of when when it all, but when, when all the different, because we we've worked together, but we've also worked separately in order to be able to actually come to some kind of meet the goal, right? But now it really like falls into place. And then we will see what kind of if it all actually really works the way how we wanted it if it feels the way how we envisioned it. I really want like in five or six years to be like, somewhere in the city and I will like lean on something and look up and I'm like okay, this is from the Eurovision. It's still around, you know, that you still like feel the traces of Eurovision and all that kind of everything that was formed and shaped and created. Like something that really is still around as a story or as material or as something that's when we will tell this is when we started thinking this way.
Pippa Shawley 26:57
So what lessons can we take from Malmö for planning other large-scale events? Making the most of previous experiences, including project managers, can help to identify opportunities to bring in circular economy principles. Thinking about how the location of the event itself can help eliminate pollution by encouraging people to travel on foot, by bike, or by public transport. Setting ambitious targets helps to drive creative thinking, while working closely with other stakeholders can help achieve these. I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of the Circular Economy Show. Thanks to Veronika Hoffmann for joining me. If you’d like to find out more about the City of Malmö’s work, you can find links in the show notes of this episode. Please leave us a review to help others discover our podcast. We’ll be back next week with more from the circular economy. See you then!