Foam waste creates value for the National Museum of Denmark. 

Linde+Larsen continues their sustainability program and delivers foam waste to the National Museum of Denmark.

The initiative began after the Museum contacted Linde+Larsen to investigate the possibility of a foam type that could be used for all their art. A foam that must not damage the artefacts and must be as clean and inactive as possible. 

Plastazote®, a foam type from the manufacturer Zotefoams is the purest cross-linked PE foam on the market. The foam is nitrogen blown, a gas which primarily consists of air and is colorless, tasteless, and odorless, and is therefore an inactive foam type.

”The National Museum of Denmark tested our Plastazote® over a longer period and approved that the foam could be used to protect all their valuable artefacts, both during storage and transport,”.

“Only 6% of our art objects are exhibited at a time. 94% of our art is stored in various locations around Denmark, says Frederik Rosner Palm, Museum Assistant at the Museum, and continues; We have begun the process of repackaging all our art objects, registering them, and taking pictures of them, so that everything is ready for us to move into our storage building of all items for the Museum and the Royal Library in Frederikssund named “Fællesmagasin”. We hope that we can start to move into the “Fællesmagasin” next summer, and our collaboration with Linde+Larsen has a big role in this project”.

The storage building for the National Museum of Denmark and the Royal Library is 17,300 sqm and will secure the cultural heritage. The building contains magazines divided into three types, and with the construction it is ensured that the cultural heritage is stored under safe conditions in an optimal indoor climate, which ensures the art in the future. Today, the Danish art treasure is distributed over many different locations, and often in older buildings where conditions are not optimal to ensure Danish history.

“We have been testing Plastazote® for a long time, and there is no doubt that it is the right type of foam to protect our art treasures. We get Plastazote® from Linde+Larsen, which is cut into bricks of max. 4×4 cm and when we receive the foam, we freeze the foam down to -40 degrees to ensure that harmful animals are not present ”, says Frederik.

Together we take care of the environment and save money

“We are constantly working to reduce and recycle the waste material we have, and after the National Museum of Denmark approved Plastazote®, we made the agreement that waste of Plastazote® is cut into smaller pieces that the Museum receives. The National Museum does not pay for the foam, only for the man-hours we spend cutting, checking, and packing the foam. In this way, we reduce waste and recycle materials that otherwise would not be used,”.

As a state-owned institution, we always offer our projects to different companies, but the prices we have from Linde+Larsen are 3-4 times lower than the second cheapest offer we received for this project. A good price is important, but it is also important that the foam we need for storage is a waste product. Our collaboration with Linde+Larsen gives us the best foam at a good price, and at the same time we do not burden the environment with starting a production. It is Win/Win ”, says Frederik.

WIN/WIN for both parties.

Linde+Larsen have focus on their green profile and have presented ”green” foam types such as recycled foam and plant-based foam.

”Both of our newly introduced foams cannot protect our art history,” says Thomas, and adding: It is important to understand as a consumer and debater that foams are products that are a necessity in our society, also in the future. And that you cannot always choose the bio-based products or products that are made from recycled materials.

We must understand the need and requirements for the project, and in this context Plastazote® is the right foam to use. What we need to pay extra attention to is how much we burden the environment and reduce our waste and for this collaboration we precisely create this win/win situation. We have foam waste from other productions in Plastazote®, and with this waste we create value for the National Museum. It is win/win that makes a difference”.

Plastazote® is approved by the National Museum to look after art treasures dating back to the Stone Age. Plastazote® is also used by the National Museum to look after organic finds, such as bone finds from humans and animals. As an inactive foam type, Plastazote® can protect our history for the next many years without the art being damaged or the foam losing their stability.

”We have millions of art treasures, and it can be storage in decades before we review all our art,” says Frederik, and continues; We are in the major process, to register everything and take pictures of everything before we move into Fællesmagasin. In this process, there are also some of our art that need to be repackaged and better protected. Previously, we used star-shaped packaging chips in Polystyrene, which we all know from when we e.g., buy a new TV or receive items packed in boxes where there is little air around.

Package chips are a cheap product, but they are not optimal for protecting our history. We have continuously changed packaging chips because they lose their stability and effect, but Plastazote® does not.  By using Plastazote®, we also save man-hours, and we know that our art are safe and can be packed down for many years without us having to check the art and change the foam”.

”We will definitely continue to work on using even more of our foam waste, because it can create value for many.” We are incredibly happy about our collaboration with the National Museum of Denmark. Together, we reduce the use of raw materials, and use foam waste instead.

In my foam network we learn from each other’s experiences, we have groups where we discuss the foam of the future and how we can make a difference for the environment at the same time.

I have just told my network about this collaboration, and I hope that they will copy it, so that we can help to ensure that even more foam waste gets value again”.

Link to Linde+Larsens website: https://lindelarsen.com 

Link to Plastazote® product description: https://nordicfoam.eu/pe-foam-overview/?lang=en

Link to Nordicfoam by Linde+Larsen website: https://nordicfoam.eu 

Link to Linde+Larsens Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LindeogLarsen 

Link to Linde+Larsens LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lindelarsen 

Link to Linde+Larsens Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/linde_and_larsen/?hl=da

Link to National Museum of Denmark website: https://natmus.dk/

Link to National Museum of Denmark Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nationalmuseet

Link to National Museum of Denmark Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nationalmuseet/