An underground movement is taking place in Malmö today — quite literally. When residents of the fast-changing neighbourhood of Sorgenfri get rid of their household waste, they take it down to the courtyard and put it into various bins. Recycling being second nature in Sweden, they will already have sorted it into food waste, paper, metal, coloured glass and so on. So far, so predictable. But here’s what makes the Sorgenfri system different. Each bin sits above a subterranean container that can hold up to three cubic metres of waste. And every fortnight a truck shows up, lifts each container out of the ground and collects the waste.

VA SYD’s solution was to put them underground. Doing that also promotes social cohesion. Instead of leaving rubbish outside their back door or dropping it down a chute, residents of Sorgenfri have to take it down to the courtyard. The idea, says Bissmont, is to bring residents together more often. “You meet people, you say hello, in the living square,” she says. Located in the city’s former industrial heartland, it’s one of the city’s most exciting sustainable development projects. Comprising nine city blocks and 38 buildings, Sorgenfri is being developed into a high-density “downtown district”. According to Bissmont, it’s now a “very dense and modern” neighbourhood, whose narrow streets are unsuitable for trucks and traditional waste containers.

It’s one of the city’s most exciting sustainable development projects