Thousands of students start their studies with 'Meatless Monday’

Welcome to Groningen! The 50th edition of the KEI Week starts on Monday 13 August and right from day 1, students will be encouraged not to eat meat: it's Meatless Monday. All KEI groups will be able to pick up special vegetarian meal parcels from branches of the Albert Heijn supermarket in Groningen. So around 5,500 prospective students and hundreds of KEI guides will start the introduction week with a healthy vegetarian meal. The aim of this joint activity organized by the KEI foundation and the Green Office of the University of Groningen is to reduce CO2 emissions. The Green Office has calculated that if all 6,000 students and guides take part, we will save 8.5 tons* of CO2. This is the equivalent of the annual emissions from 7 households (in terms of power).

This 50th edition of the KEI Week (13 to 17 August 2018) has chosen sustainable food and drink as one of its main focal points. There will be a sustainable picnic on Tuesday 14 August, and a sustainable cookery workshop has been organized by the Green Office on the Wednesday. Sustainability will also feature heavily at the anniversary festival on the Kardingeplas lake on Thursday. There will be a self-sufficient podium and a Green Corner, where sustainable organizations from Groningen can promote their activities.

Green Key

The KEI foundation intends to raise its sustainable profile in the years to come and hopes to retain the international Green Key label again this year. To do this, the foundation is working closely with the UG's Green Office. This year, they will analyse the impact of the KEI Week on the environment. The Green Team that has been set up for the purpose will use the expertise available in the Green Office to take baseline measurements for ascertaining power and water consumption during some of the events. Waste streams will also be analysed.

The KEI week is the general introductory period (non-compulsory) for all new first-year students of Hanze UAS Groningen, the University of Groningen, AVAG and Stenden UAS.