The Finnish city of Lahti is known for their pioneering environmental action, and for their open-minded co-operation with locals. Now the European Green Capital 2021 joins forces with the local microbrewery Ant Brew by crafting a new beer series. The Wasted Potential beers are brewed with wild herbs, local food waste, like bread, berries, and fruits – and even goose droppings.
The poop is used in a food-safe way to smoke malt to create a unique stout beer. The goose droppings are gathered from local parks, where geese are causing a messy problem. Now, the local parks get cleaner and the special edition summer beverages are perfect for a picnic in the park – a true two birds with one stone type of solution.
The beers showcase circular economy by showing that all kinds of waste can be utilized. City of Lahti aims to be a completely wasteless circular economy city by 2050, and at the moment 99% of the city’s household waste is already repurposed.
Creative partner behind the idea is TBWA\Helsinki. “Instead of making a traditional ad campaign to talk about the city of Lahti as a forerunner in circular economy, we wanted to shake things up a bit. Lahti is known for its many breweries, so what better way to communicate this important theme than through a series of beers. We see modern marketing as concrete actions that bring joy to people, and this is another good example of it”, says in the press release Tuomas Karvonen, Creative Content Strategist from TBWA\Helsinki.
