Approaches to sustainable procurement - Hamilton City Council

Green purchasing guide

Introduction

Welcome to the first edition of the Green Purchasing Guide on line! Our aim is to make purchasing "green" products and services as simple as possible for everyone involved. We hope this guide will help you to get started.

The guide is intended to be an "organic" document which will evolve over time as we all learn more about the companies, products and services available to us. By working together, we can improve the information contained, create our list of approved "green suppliers" and help each other to make the right purchasing decisions.

Why "green purchasing"?

As a major purchaser, Hamilton City Council has a significant impact on the environment through the products and services it buys. Almost every product (eg cleaning materials, vehicles, energy, paper, furniture) or service (eg street cleaning, refuse collection, financial services) has some kind of environmental implication. By introducing environmentally conscious purchasing criteria we can make a significant difference to our organisation's contribution to sustainability. Furthermore, if this approach was to be adopted by local government as a whole, the cumulative impact would be considerable and could influence suppliers and product development.

For these reasons, and to support our Corporate Environmental Policy and commitment to Agenda 21, Council has made green purchasing an important part of its Purchasing Policy.

Buying green products...

The following environmental specifications are intended as a guide of what to look for.

Wherever possible goods should be:

• Made from recycled materials or materials from sustainable sources
• Reusable or recyclable
• Minimal, reusable or recyclable packaging
• Biodegradable
• Energy efficient
• Durable or repairable
• Non-toxic
• High performing

Goods should not:

• Contain any hazardous chemicals
• Contain VOC's, CF C's, or chlorinated compounds
• Result in harmful by-products, either in use or in disposal

Where possible Approved Suppliers should be selected where;

• A commitment to cleaner production has been demonstrated
• The supplier operates an Environmental Management System (EMS)
• The supplier is ISO 14001 accredited.

For more help try using the quick Green Purchasing Checklist

Getting the information you need

This guide provides the essential criteria on which to base a green purchasing decision. However, unless the company, product, or service has already made this information available, you will need to obtain the necessary environmental information before you can apply those criteria. Most suppliers, and certainly the larger companies, should now be able to provide environmental information relating to both the goods and services supplied and to the company itself. Make sure that you inform your supplier of Council's Purchasing Policy and request environmental information from them by sending them a copy of the Supplier Questionnaire or Contractors and Service Providers Questionnaire.

Interpreting the information

Once you have the environmental information you can use the guidelines below and complete the Green Purchasing Checklist to make an informed and responsible purchasing decision. If you need any help at all in interpreting the information you receive from the supplier then pick up the phone and dial the Sustainable Environment Team or email tegan.mcintyre @ hcc.govt.nz

1. Recycled content and recyclability

Collecting and sorting paper, plastics, metal, glass and other materials is only one part of the recycling process. Recycling is not complete until the collected materials are turned into new products and those products containing recycled materials are purchased - a process often referred to as "closing the loop". We "close the loop" by buying back recycled products.

Products with recycled content often have environmental benefits over products made from virgin raw materials. Recycled products play a waste minimisation role as they divert wastes from the waste stream. The manufacture of recycled products involves the reuse of natural resources and so promotes resource conservation. Some recycled products such as aluminium cans, glass bottles and paper require far less energy to produce than virgin products. The manufacture of recycled paper also uses less than one third of the water required to produce virgin paper.

Tips:

• Remember that just because a product is labelled recyclable doesn't mean that it can be recycled in New Zealand at this time. Find out if the product can be recycled locally by contacting SET or the manufacturer.
• Find out what it can be recycled into.
• Products made from recycled materials can have varying levels of recycled content. Choose products with a high percentage of recycled content.
• If possible choose products with a post-consumer recycled content, that is products made from materials used and discarded as waste by consumers.

2. Packaging

Packaging can be a significant source of waste, so evaluate it to determine what components can be eliminated or reduced. From an environmental perspective, the best packaging is no packaging at all but, obviously, packaging is often required. However, you can reduce a product's overall environmental impact by choosing environmentally preferable packaging.

Tips:

• consider whether all the packaging is necessary.
• look for packaging made from recycled material.
• look for packaging which is itself recyclable.
• see if the manufacturer will take the packaging back for recycling.
• look for packaging made from the least number of different materials to aid recycling
• purchase in bulk to avoid individual packaging.

3. Biodegradability

Products are considered biodegradable if they break down into non-toxic components within a specified time. Most products will biodegrade eventually, but the deciding factors are how fast, and how easily by-products can be assimilated by the environment. Persistent substances (those that biodegrade slowly) accumulate in organisms low on the food chain and are subsequently eaten by organisms higher up.

Tips:

• look for products that are biodegradable, especially if you are disposing of them down the drain.
• select products that biodegrade relatively quickly, especially if you must purchase higher toxicity products.
• if a product is not biodegradable, look for a substitute.

4. Energy and natural resources use

Most products require significant amounts of energy throughout their life cycle: in the production and harvest of raw materials and during manufacture, transportation, product use and disposal. Maximising energy efficiency decreases pollution, including the generation of green house gases, acid rain and smog. It also saves money and decreases mining and transportation impacts.

Reducing the use of virgin natural resources (such as soil, coal, natural gas and metals) benefits the environment in three ways: by minimising the effect of their extraction on the environment, by reducing energy use and by reducing the emissions of greenhouse gas and other pollutants. It can also benefit human health by reducing exposure to toxic materials (eg, coal dust). Generally, it takes less energy to reuse or recycle used materials than to produce new ones.

Tips:

• buy products in bulk, reducing the amount of energy required for transportation and packaging.
• use renewable resources in a limited way, so ecosystems aren't disrupted and resources aren't over-taxed.
• look for energy efficient equipment, eg with "sleep" mode.

5. Toxicity

Toxic substances are defined as chemicals or mixtures whose manufacturing, processing, distribution, use or disposal may present an "unreasonable risk" to human health or the environment. In assessing the toxicity of a product, several factors must be considered: the quantity of substance you are exposed to, the strength of the substance and the route of exposure (ingestion, inhalation or skin absorption). Frequency of exposure can also be important. Some substances have cumulative effects while others must reach a certain threshold before causing an effect. An additional complication is the variation of effects among species. What may be safe for humans can harm or kill more delicate species, ultimately disrupting the balance of the ecosystem.

Tips:

• use toxic products as infrequently as possible.
• choose the least toxic products available for each job.
• replace toxic products with non-toxic substitutes whenever they are available.
• choose multi-purpose chemicals to reduce the number of different chemicals you track, and to reduce worker exposure.
• request material safety data sheets for each chemical you use.
• look for warning labels on packaging such as TOXIC, CORROSIVE, POISON, EXPLOSIVE, CARCINOGEN, and avoid whenever possible.

6. Durability/repairability

Durable and repairable products tend to be better for the environment than disposable ones, because they reduce manufacturing impacts (eg, energy use, pollution) and save money in avoided replacement costs. These products also result in less waste disposal and reduced shipping impacts.

Tips:

• purchase durable products over short lived ones.
• purchase repairable products, and repair them as necessary.

7. Performance and cost

Testing a product before making a purchase can save time and wastage in the long run. Not all green alternatives will provide a suitable level of performance to meet our needs despite manufacturers' claims.

But don't they cost more? While some green products will be cheaper and produce an instant saving it is a fact that many others will cost more initially. Environmental purchasing can, however, save money in the long term.

Cost should be considered in terms of a product's life-cycle i.e., the cost of manufacturing/acquiring, maintaining, operating and disposing of a product. Using this life-cycle cost (LCC) measure enables you to compare different products by determining their real prices and not just their purchase prices.

In some cases, the savings might be significant, and in others they won't. However, there may be reasons to make the purchase anyway, for example, to raise environmental consciousness in the organisation. Sometimes, environmentally preferable products do cost more than their alternatives, even on a life-cycle basis. This discrepancy usually occurs for one of three reasons: these are emerging technologies, products are inefficiently distributed, or environmental costs are not captured in the costs of competing products. However, the more we purchase environmental products in place of conventional ones, the cheaper they should become.

Overall, if the change to green purchasing is combined with a commitment to reduce the amount you use, then expenditure needn't increase. Use less!

Tips:

• obtain and evaluate small quantities of product.
• choose products that are easy to maintain.
• choose products that are easy to upgrade.
• choose products that are reusable or include reusable parts (eg rechargeable batteries).

Green purchasing checklist

Acquisition

Have other options for meeting the needs been explored? For example:

• Have checks been run to ensure that no comparable product is available internally?
• Has the feasibility of short-term rental or sharing the product been investigated as alternatives to purchasing?
• Is the quantity requested appropriate and sure to be used?
• Will the product be used to the end of its useful life? If not, can it be easily reallocated?

Once you have established that a purchase should be made, there are a number of specific product characteristics that can help identify a "greener" alternative. Be wary of products with unsubstantiated claims. Look for qualifying statements such as the percentage of recycled content.

Is the product:

• Designed to minimise waste?
• Energy efficient (eg office equipment with a power saving "sleep" mode?
• Less polluting during use than other competing products (eg non toxic, biodegradable cleaners)?
• Free from hazardous or toxic ingredients that would require special disposal (eg mercury)?
• Free from resources that come from environmentally sensitive areas (eg contains no wood from tropical rainforests such as some teak or mahogany, or from temperate rainforests such as some Canadian spruce)? Manufactured from recycled materials including a high percentage of post-consumer recycled content?
• Free from restricted or banned substances (eg contains no chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's), volatile organic compounds (VOC's) such as bezene, or substances such as arsenic)?

Is the product packaging:

• Designed to minimise waste (eg bulk packaging)?
• Reusable by the end-user?
• Recyclable locally?
• Made from recycled materials containing a high percentage of post consumer waste?
• Accepted by the supplier for reuse, recycling or recovery?
• Operation, Utilisation and Maintenance

Is the product:

• Durable, with a long service life?
• Accompanied by clear and comprehensive operating instructions (this will help ensure that it is used efficiently)?
• Easy to maintain in good operating condition?
• Economical to repair?
• Easy to upgrade?
• Reusable or includes reusable parts (eg rechargeable batteries)?

Disposal

Can the product or its parts:

• Be reused (eg furniture which can be refurbished or reallocated)
• Be resold?
• Be returned to the supplier for reuse, recycling or recovery?
• Be recycled locally?

The relative importance of each of these questions will vary from one product category to another. In general, choose the option that satisfies the greatest proportion of these criteria. Be sure to advise your suppliers that you will be evaluating products according to these factors.