Nottingham City Council will now only served plant-based refreshments at internal functions
Nottingham City Council will only provide plant-based internal food and drinks after lobbying from a city resident. The authority will only provide plant-based catering options at internal meetings from September 30, it has been confirmed.
This comes after a city resident and supporter of the Plant-Based Councils campaign group, Ruby Mucenieks, 31, submitted a question regarding the matter ahead of a full council meeting on Monday, September 9. City councillor and executive member for Carbon Reduction, Leisure and Culture, Sam Lux, confirmed the new policy will be enforced at the end of the month during the meeting.
She said: "I am really happy to say that after discussing with officers at the end of last week, I can confirm now that from Monday 30th September we will only have plant-based internal catering from Nottingham Catering at Loxley House. So this will include plant-based milks, biscuits and other foods, and we will also plan a week of promotion of dairy milk alternatives in October for staff to try plant-based milk in their drinks from the coffee bar at Loxley, substituting for all drinks unless specifically requested otherwise.
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"This obviously is to encourage our employees to try these alternatives and to actually increase their uptake. I would also like to take the opportunity to mention that our Carbon Neutral 2028 Action Plan includes a list of food-related actions, reflecting our awareness of its significant contribution to the city’s footprint - particularly the high-carbon impact of meat and dairy products."
The decision has been praised by another local supporter of the campaign group, Ilana Parrwood, 26.
Ms Parrwood said: "I want to thank Cllr Lux and Nottingham City Council for their fantastic announcement today. Plant-Based Councils have been campaigning here for over a year and it has been amazing to see our support grow exponentially.
"So many people want to get involved and help raise awareness of this vital opportunity we have around our food and drink. It’s widely accepted now that plant-based food and drinks bring so many benefits, particularly around helping our wildlife via emissions reductions and land-use improvements, so it’s great to see Nottingham City Council leading by example.
"We look forward to continued dialogue with the council to build further on this success."
Similar policies have been implemented by Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council, Oxfordshire County Council and Exeter City Council.