Sustainability

Hamburg puts an end to coffee pods in the town hall

The city wants to become more environmentally friendly and banished therefore, coffee pods, and other environmental sins, from the urban facilities. With a sustainable procurement policy will Hamburg be a role model.

Around 250 million euros, the city of Hamburg per year for Goods and services: coffee, cleaning products, office supplies, lamps, furniture, Cars, repair and Transport. So far, counted at the purchase especially the price and also convenience; environmental aspects played only a very subordinate role. That should change now.

Purchasing will decide for or against the environment

The Hamburg Senate has environmental Standards for the purchase of decided. Goal is an environmental-friendly procurement and procurement in city facilities. The buyers for the town hall, schools and kindergartens will ensure that the products and services that minimize environmental burden. A guide calls on 150 pages, the criteria and helps the Central buyers in the implementation.

Hamburg will now have a leading role in Germany taking. “With the purchasing power of several hundred million euros per year, the city can ensure that harmful products are rare and sell sustainable products on the market, still more acceptance,” says Umweltsenator Jens Kerstan (Green). Consumption of raw materials, shelf life and transport routes played in purchasing decisions from now on an important role. “This is an important Signal to the economy and to individuals, in the future also even more on the consequences of a purchase decision and on the story behind a product to make.”

Senator Kerstan in the Twizy from the station. The electric car is economical, cheap, and ideal for the city.

Electric car: Yes coffee: no

The guide contains a list of things which the administration can no longer buy and use. From the city hall banned it so, for example coffee capsules. You are already long in the review: six grams of coffee get about three grams of plastic, or Aluminiumabfall. Per year, to produce coffee pods, approximately four million pounds of garbage in Germany, come to a lot of greenhouse gases, since the production of Aluminium is extremely a lot of electricity.

Hamburg banished from his city hall also disposable bottles, disposable tableware and chlorine-based cleaning agents. “Also Gasheizpilze and comparable Elektrostrahler we will no longer have to buy, because the energy used in proportion to the heating effect is,” said Kerstan.

The editorial recommends

Less poison in a Kindergarten

In toys and furniture put chemicals. Some are suspected to have cancer and infertility trigger. The city of Cologne wants to children in schools and kindergartens to protect and has rules for shopping set.

Western consumption charged climate

The Lifestyle in the Western world is a Problem for the climate. The Federal environment Agency wants to change that and the Thinking and the conscious consumption to encourage. That was the only way the goals of climate protection. (09.12.2015)

Mindful consumption is climate change

For today’s world environment day, the UN environment programme to verantwortungsvollerem consumption and use of resources is called. Because food and energy rich on the long run not to feed the world’s population. (05.06.2015)

Policy for good life without Ökoschäden

Protect the environment, consuming less and satisfied, suffizient life. Many people take the front. But it is not so easy, the follow through. The policy should help, experts say. (19.12.2013)

There are also new rules for the selection of colors: The must be no biocides included and the maximum is only “slightly water hazardous”. Also wants the Senate to the proportion of recycled paper at the copy paper from the present 66 per cent to continue to increase.

In the future also in the traffic to set a good example, the city of Hamburg its fleet in the coming years, renew: Currently, approximately every fourth vehicle in the city administration, an electric car, up to the year 2020, the share will double.

Necessarily costly to the purchasing Department for the city through the conversion, stresses Norman Roeder from the tax authorities, and mentions as an example the LED lamps. LED cost a bit more expensive than Halogen and incandescent bulbs, at least five Times longer and only need a tenth of the energy. This relieves the environment and the city’s coffers at the same time.