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Green Purchasing
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Green Purchasing
Changing your purchasing procedures can improve efficiency and
the overall sustainability of your business.
What is green purchasing?
Traditional procurement focuses on
value for money: the emphasis is on the economic impact of
procuring goods and services. Sustainable procurement means that
the environmental and social impacts are taken
into consideration. In practise, this means
selecting products that are produced from sustainable
materials or using contractors that minimise their impact on the
environment (for example, through limiting their use of vehicles as
much as possible).
The Sustainable Procurement National Action plan defines
sustainable procurement as:
"A process whereby organisations meet
their needs for goods, services, works and utilities in a way that
achieves value for money on a whole life basis in terms of
generating benefits not only to the organisation, but also to
society and the economy, whilst minimising damage to the
environment."
How to begin green purchasing
Over-purchasing
A big issue today is over-purchasing. When you are next ordering
products, ask yourself the following questions:
- Is the product or service needed?
- Can the need be met in another way?
- Is the product already available elsewhere in the
organisation?
- Can the requirement be met by renting or sharing, rather than
purchasing?
- Is the quantity requested essential?
- Can the product serve a useful purpose after its initial
use?
Write a sustainable procurement policy
Writing a sustainable procurement strategy is important when
numerous staff are responsible for purchasing within your
business.
Developing a strategy allows all staff responsible for purchasing
to be clear on the criteria they must follow when selecting a
service or product. For more information, visit the
Business Link website.
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