The municipal and regional council elections are now upon us. The posters have gone up on the lampposts, and the candidates are working hard to get as many crosses as possible next to their names.

And in the multitude of climate and environmental initiatives that are currently taking up space on political agendas, we would like to focus on one that is less well-known: namely the work to reduce resource consumption. Because here too, municipalities and regions can make a noticeable difference.

In Denmark, we use far more of nature's resources than the Earth can actually sustain. Our annual consumption of virgin resources – that is, new materials – is 24,5 tons per capita. This is approximately three times more than a 'sustainable' level. At the same time, we have a very high consumption-based climate footprint, and we are some of the worst in Europe at producing waste – and thus among the worst at preventing waste. Not exactly a combination that rhymes with a green pioneer country.

So when the new local and regional councils across the country take office on the other side of the election campaign, there is ample opportunity to reverse the trend. Circular initiatives that reduce resource consumption often create positive synergy effects while reducing resource use and waste volumes. We have seen this, among other things, in a project, where the waste company Renosyd has established brush fences for garden waste together with citizens and schools since 2022. The project has reduced the amount of garden waste and fuel consumption in connection with transporting the waste, improved biodiversity and strengthened the local community.

The many local collaborations between municipalities, recycling centers and voluntary organizations with thrift stores are another good example. The list of good ideas is long, and we have collected lots of concrete examples in our joint 'Catalog for waste prevention and circularity'.

Below we highlight three concrete proposals that the new municipal and regional councils can tackle after the election:

1. Plan for repair, reuse and circularity

The first place to start is in the planning of our cities. Local planning is a powerful tool that can be used actively to promote repair, recycling and circularity.

This could be by securing space for repair cafes, sharing schemes and similar citizen initiatives. Here people can meet to borrow and repair products so that they can have a longer life instead of being thrown out. The municipality can help residents' associations or landowners' associations establish such initiatives. This can also be done by the municipality making a portion of its own premises and areas available for citizen-driven activities after hours. In this way, public resources are utilized in the best possible way – around the clock.

2. Prioritize recycling and circularity in procurement and tendering

Another important area of ​​focus is the municipality's and the region's own procurement. Municipalities purchase a total of approximately 110 billion kroner per year and account for approximately 46 percent of total CO emissions.₂-emissions associated with all public procurement.

This includes everything from furniture and kitchen equipment to cleaning and construction projects. This means that municipalities have a responsibility to not only spend tax dollars on what is cheapest at the time of purchase, but also on what takes into account resource consumption and the consequences for the climate, environment and nature. This could include, among other things, the municipality and the region demanding products with long lifespans and repair guarantees in public tenders. This may be more expensive now, but cheaper in the long term. And there are good opportunities to incorporate these considerations into municipal procurement. This could, for example, be done by establishing material banks where used furniture and equipment can circulate between municipal institutions.

This could be phasing out disposable service in public institutions and workplaces or recycling systems for takeaway packaging. Procurement and tendering should generally be assessed based on a product's entire life cycle: How is it produced, how long can it be used and reused, can it be repaired, and how is it handled when it eventually ends up as waste? When recycling and repair become the norm rather than the exception, we reduce both waste and CO₂-emissions, resource consumption and total economic costs.

Public procurement and tenders can be a strategic tool to achieve climate goals or specific circular ambitions, and at the same time an opportunity to support innovative, circular companies.

3. Increase the amount of reusable products rather than disposable products in healthcare

In the regions, the healthcare sector has gradually become characterized by massive single-use consumption and thus also a large amount of waste production. This applies to everything from surgical steel scissors, which are used to make a single cut and then thrown away, disposable textiles, disposable plastic products and even disposable electronics. A large part of this disposable equipment is produced outside Europe – and at a time when there is generally increasing focus on secure supply chains, we should also look into how we can replace the massive consumption of disposable equipment with reusable equipment.

This applies, among other things, to textiles, where the focus should be on purchasing reusable textiles with long durability and repair services. This applies to disposable equipment for, for example, surgeries, where in many areas it makes sense to instead demand reusable equipment and reintroduce sterile centers. And of course, this also applies to much disposable electronics, which can be advantageously replaced by long-lasting reusable electronics.

Fortunately, the transition from disposable to reusable equipment is a focus area in the Danish Regions' joint strategy for green hospitals, and some regions are working on pilot projects in this area. But it deserves much greater focus – both for reasons of resource consumption and climate, as well as strategic autonomy and security of supply.

There are plenty of places where the municipal council and regional council can take action to become more circular.

Good election campaign.

This debate was published in Klimamonitor on November 14, and was written by Lone Mikkelsen, senior advisor for circular economy and chemicals at the Green Transition Denmark, Malene Høj Mortensen, political manager at Plastic Change, Mette Hoffgaard Ranfelt, chief environmental policy advisor at the Danish Nature Conservation Association, Michael Søgaard Jørgensen, expert in circular economy at IDA Technology Assessment, Charlotte Louise Jensen, senior consultant in the food and consumption program at Concito & Kristina Klaaborg Kjøller, political consultant at the Circular Industry Association