Mariagerfjord Municipality helps bees and butterflies, which struggle to find nectar

Committee chairman Jørgen Hammer Sørensen is enthusiastic that the new initiative creates ideal habitats for plant and wildlife.

The sight of buzzing bees and fluttering butterflies on flowering meadows will soon meet the citizens when they visit the fjord municipality's recycling sites. The beautiful and unusual sight is the result of the municipality's new biodiversity policy, which is to make it sprout, tingle and crawl in the municipal areas.

The lawns that today characterize the recycling sites are now being replaced by flowering herbs and shrubs, which naturally belong in Danish nature. These include red clover, blue hat, marjoram and small bell which will bloom all summer. According to experts, it is also high time that nature gets a helping hand. German studies show that the number of flying insects is plummeting at an alarming rate. Thus, a dramatic decline of as much as 76 percent has been seen since 1989.

Jørgen Hammer Sørensen, who is chairman of the municipality's technology and environment committee, is pleased that the policy benefits the Danish nature and the flowers and animals that previously thrived in fields and meadows. -­‐ Many of us can remember that there was a jumble of butterflies, flowers and bees.

Now we are turning the lawns at our recycling sites into flower meadows and giving our wonderful plant and animal life a helping hand, says Jørgen Hammer Sørensen. -­‐ In Mariagerfjord, we want to take the lead when it comes to creating a richer and more beautiful nature. I hope that the thriving recycling sites will inspire people to sow even more flowers and let nature grow, both at home and in the workplace, says the committee chairman. The work of transforming green lawns into colorful flowering meadows will begin shortly. At the recycling site in Mariager, nature has already kicked off. Here the flowers appeared quite naturally when the municipality parked the lawnmower.

At the municipality's waste office, great perspectives are seen in the fact that nature gets a sanctuary at the recycling site.