195

News

Government to introduce two meatless days in public canteens

Christian Wenande
October 29th, 2020


This article is more than 4 years old.

Move is just one of the aspects of a new green strategy pertaining to procurements made by the public sector

Denmark wants to be a global leader in the green food transition (photo: Pixabay)

Earlier today, the government unveiled a new green strategy aiming to make procurements made by the public sector more sustainable.

Among the initiatives are the use of greener vehicles by the public sector, a 60 percent organic food minimum, and two meatless days a week in public canteens.

“For the first time in history, the government has launched a collected strategy for green public procurements,” said the finance minister, Nicolai Wammen.

“We do it because we want to become better at considering the climate, environment and sustainability when purchasing in the future. As one of the first countries in the world, we set a figure to how much the green procurements will help reduce Denmark’s overall emissions.”

READ ALSO: Government wants companies to ensure sustainable packaging

Greener cars, bulbs and cleaning products
Aside from the aforementioned elements of the strategy, the government also wants to make it mandatory for state canteenes to use products that live up to environmental demands.

The new demands will only encompass state employee canteens for now – so not those run by municipalities or the regional authorities.

Other initiatives of the strategy include more electric cars used by the state, greener cleaning products and all light bulbs in state institutions being switched to more climate-friendly LED bulbs.

According to the government, the state uses 380 billion kroner annually on its consumption – contributing 12 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Read the entire strategy document here (in Danish).


Share

Most popular

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to receive The Daily Post

















Latest Podcast

A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”