Mazars Community Day in Denmark

We started the day with a test of our global footprint. It was an interesting test, and the mindset was set for the rest of the day.

We drove by electric “Green Mobility” cars to our destination in the centre of Copenhagen. Here we set out for trash collection organised by GreenKayak. Kayaking around in the canals of Copenhagen was an experience and together with picking on land we collected 71.6 kg of litter in 1.5 hour!

At lunchtime we participated in an outdoor lecture at Banegaarden. An eco-friendly small “town” where sustainability is a part of every action and thought. BaneGaarden’s vision is to help define the next chapter in sustainability and inspire to leave the world in a better state than we received it. In addition to enjoy a wonderful meal focusing on local ingredients and wild nature in the middle of the city, we heard about the restoration of the conservation-worthy wooden barns carried out on the principles: recycling rather than consumption, craftsmanship rather than haste, natural building materials rather than synthetic, wood rather than concrete and steel and wood chips for tiles.

We ended the day at CyclingWithoutAge (CyklingUdenAlder), an association with a purpose to break the loneliness and strengthen the community. The purpose is to voluntarily bicycle with elderly people, who cannot get around by themselves. The bicycle is a classic Danish Christiania bike with seats for two. Generations meet and new friendships emerge.

See below the feedback from two of our employees, who participated in our first Community Day at Mazars in Denmark:

Mette Svendsen, Senior Manager

“On a beautiful sunny day in October, our Community Day was held. A wonderful day of socializing with colleagues in a completely new way. At Christianshavn in Copenhagen, I was on the team at GreenKayak that collected litter on land. We were given a large bucket and grabbers to collect. It did not take long before our bucket was filled with everything from rubber boots, plastic bags, cigarette butts, empty bottles / cans and much more – crazy with so much waste. One of the local businesses was helpful with extra bags as we ran out of these. A lot of passers-by praised us for our efforts, and several stopped to talk. It's great when you can make a difference like this.

We ended the day at the association "CyclingWithoutAge", where two committed entrepreneurs gave a presentation about their project. Their mission is cycling with the country's elderly people living in care centers on a specially designed rickshaw with room for both a bicycle pilot and two of the elderly. The association trains volunteer bicycle pilots to be able to ride the specially produced bicycles. Before we were allowed to try the bikes, we saw a short presentation, incl. a movie, about their amazing project - it was very touching. I have a father who has Alzheimer's. In his young days he was a cyclist, and he enjoyed the nature. Today, the disease has made him unable to walk. A project like this could make it possible for my father to have some good experiences. It really touched my heart. No doubt this is a project I am going to support.

Community Day was a really educational day and I look forward to next year's Community Day.”

Kasper Thuesen, Senior

“The activity on our Community Day that made the biggest impression on me was clearly our visit to GreenKayak. I have lived in Copenhagen for the last 14 years and have always thought that I lived in a beautiful and not least clean city. Therefore, I had never thought that I would have to help find almost 80 kg. waste in just 1.5 hours, after guidance from GreenKajak's instructors, who helped us to collect waste in Copenhagen's canals and streets. Finding that amount of litter surprised me a lot.”