Sustainable Purchasing

“Sustainable purchasing” refers to the acquisition of products that are made from recycled content; that are environmentally preferable, bio-based, or energy- and water-efficient; that use alternate fuel and renewable energy; or that offer alternatives to hazardous or toxic chemicals.

Sustainable purchasing is about:

• Maximizing value (quality, price, service, innovation) and minimizing the environmental and social impacts throughout a product’s entire life cycle
• Buying goods and services that have reduced effects on human health, society and the environment, when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose

All goods and services create social and environmental impacts throughout their life cycles, from employment and local development to resource depletion and waste. Embracing sustainable purchasing in everyday lives will advance sustainable development, and the benefits will extend beyond the local community.

Reducing waste, fostering a culture of reuse, and making sustainable purchasing decisions are also key components of helping to achieve Zero Waste Action Plan.

Benefits

Economic

• Stimulates a robust local economy by supporting local suppliers
• Reduces operation, transportation, maintenance, replacement and waste disposal costs
• Fosters innovation, as more organizations demand and seek sustainable alternatives

Social

• Supports international labour standards and the ethical treatment of workers worldwide
• Promotes worker safety, health and wellness
• Supports suppliers who promote diversity and accessibility in the workplace
• Encourages the development of local social enterprises

Environmental

• Supports energy conservation, waste reduction, and water conservation
• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions
• Reduces pollutants and toxins released into the atmosphere, soil and water
• Supports products and services that respect biodiversity

TCO Approach

When purchasing goods, it is important to consider more than an item’s upfront cost. Although upfront costs may initially appear to be high, sustainable purchases often cost less than conventional products when the total cost of ownership is taken into account. Sustainable purchasers assess the costs associated with an item over its lifetime, including its design, manufacturing, packaging, transport, use and disposal.

The total cost of sustainable products is less than conventional products in many instances, when you consider long-term cost savings (i.e. less energy to operate a more efficient product) and cost avoidance (i.e. reduced waste disposal costs). Combined with strategies to reduce product use (i.e. printing less paper), green products can cost the same as, or less than, conventional products.

Sustainability Models

Various sustainability models are

• The Triple Bottom Line (3BL) – It defines three pillars: Social Responsibility, Environmental Stewardship, and Economic Viability and are sometimes termed “People, Planet, Profits,” as first coined by Shell. Social Responsibility deals with such concerns as whether the firm provides a safe working environment, with fair compensation and benefits. Environmental Stewardship addresses how can a firm avoid depleting resources, prevent pollution, or otherwise reduce its ecological footprint. Economic Viability, is the firm is profitable, and can it be expected to grow and prosper, providing returns to investors? A firm that is deficient in any of these three facets is ultimately not sustainable.
• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) – It is an analysis of the environmental aspects and potential impacts associated with a product, process, or service. Despite the inclusion of environmental management standards into ISO 14000, no single universal standard exists for the impact categories evaluated. LCAs may occasionally have a social component. Typically the following are included: global warming, acidification, smog, ozone layer depletion, “eutrophication”, toxin release, habitat destruction, desertification, land use issues, and resource depletion.
• The Ecological Footprint – It was first defined by Wackernagel and Rees (1996) quantifies the land and water area a population requires to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb its wastes. They assert that Earth’s “carrying capacity” is currently being exceeded. This framework is similar to that of the LCA, except with a focus on consumers instead of producers. Measures are broken in to water usage, resource usage and other categories, with carbon being the largest component, at over half the total footprint.

Sustainable Requirement Definition

Developing and using generic specifications is as import in the sustainable procurement process as it is in the traditional procurement process. During this stage, human/labour rights and environmental performance criteria should be translated into specifications that meet specific requirements of the specified outcome, desired by the procurement action.

The table below provides some examples of criteria to consider when determining potential environmental and social impacts of goods, services and works : during the requirement definition stage.

Criteria	Factors to consider
Fit for the purpose and provide value for money	Ensure that the product you are considering does the job you want it to do for all potential users, including groups with specialist needs where appropriate.
Biodegradability	Some products may be suitable for composting. Where that is the case, ensure that the materials can break down speedily and safely.
Design for disassembly	When products are made up of thousands of different types of materials, particularly plastics and metals, it helps if they are designed to be easily taken apart or disassembled so that the materials can be recycled. This is particularly relevant to electronic and electrical products such as fridges, televisions, personal computers and printers.
Minimum use of virgin and non-renewable materials	Wherever possible, the use of recycled or re-used materials should be encouraged, as these generally have a much lower impact on the environment. Examples include computer processor cases or road aggregate.
Resource, energy and water efficiency	Running costs are often overlooked when procuring products. Seek equipment that is energy efficient, such as Energy Star rated products. Also check that your product does not have a ‘knock-on’ effect of using more resources, eg specifying paper towels over hand-driers may increase the volume of paper you dispose of, which also has a cost.
Fault controls to prevent unnecessary waste	When specifying plant equipment, such as boilers, ensure that you specify metering and monitoring equipment. Whilst it might increase acquisition costs it will alert you to inefficient use and enable you to reduce running costs, spills or waste problems.
Maximum durability, reparability, reusability, recyclability and upgradeability	Essentially this is a quality issue. Seek long-life products, that will survive being mistreated, that can be repaired, reused and ultimately recycled. Importantly, seek products that enable you to upgrade them and improve performance over time rather than having to buy new equipment to do the same job.
Minimum packaging	Most products are bought with excessive levels of packaging, either to add cosmetic value, or to enable the product to survive poor handling. Packaging has to be disposed of once it has performed its task, and in most cases the cost of disposal falls to the customer, not the supplier.
Maximum use of post-consumer materials	There are many grades of recycled materials. Where possible seek materials that have been used once and are being reused to perform a repeat or new function, rather than materials that have been reused from a manufacturing process waste which has never been used by the consumer.
No (or reduced) polluting with minimum use of toxic chemicals, CFCs, ozone and other pollutants.	Not only do these products help reduce your environmental impact, but choosing low-polluting alternatives often means you can avoid lengthy COSHH assessments and training, e.g. cleaning staff or lab technicians.
Health and safety standards	These should never be overlooked and it is sensible to evaluate many products with a qualified health and safety officer. Examples include electrical equipment, vehicles, cleaning chemicals and furniture.
Local production	Sourcing your purchases from local suppliers means that the economic benefits can be felt in the communities in which you live and work. This inward investment can help ensure the ongoing economic sustainability of your local area through job creation.
Ethically sourced	You should seek to ensure that the products you buy are not exploiting child labour, or labour and economies in the developing world and that you meet recognised fair trade standards wherever possible.

Sustainability evaluation criteria

Assessment of a tender is a key part of the procurement process. The degree to which tenders are scored is dependent upon a number of factors. Tender assessment is the opportunity to go into more specific detail about how the supplier is going to deliver the requirements from a cost, quality and sustainability perspective. Through risk assessment, sustainability criteria may have been set that are so important that a supplier must have them in order to bid, typically these are addressed through the specification and are considered as pass/ fail criteria. Items that are important but not vital are dealt with through asking the supplier for information that is then scored, called sustainability criteria.

Sustainability evaluation criteria are key to undertaking thorough and consistent assessments of sustainability performance of suppliers’ bids and proposals. Organizations should determine environmental evaluation criteria to suit their own needs. Some recommended environmental evaluation criteria to consider in tenders are:

• Air pollution – to include measures taken to reduce emissions, particularly of key pollutants, and looking at efforts to exceed statutory requirements.
• Biodiversity and habitats – a specific aspect of land use, where biodiversity and important habitats are recognised and measures taken to protect and enhance them.
• Climate change – measures taken to monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions should be highlighted in this criterion.
• Resource use and intensity – to include energy, water, raw materials and land as resources, and to focus on the efficiency of their use. Linked to waste, air pollution and water pollution.
• Transport – to consider measures that reduce overall transport requirements, and to encourage a modal shift away from road transport (people and freight).
• Waste – to include measures to reduce, re-use and recycle wastes.
• Water quality – to include measures to reduce discharges, particularly of key pollutants, and looking at efforts to exceed statutory requirements, and rewarding efforts to meet water quality objectives and targets.