Preferred
printing suppliers assessment - Waitakere
City Council
Summary
In its first industry-based Cleaner Production project, Waitakere City Council worked with the local printing industry to create safer work environments and to develop an environmentally preferable print product that council could purchase. Organisations offering print services and wanting to become a preferred council supplier must fill in the Preferred Supplier Assessment Sheet and then be assessed by council.
Key drivers
Council is keen to show green purchasing leadership to the community. A key driver was seen as putting into place the overall council Eco-City philosophy, providing for social needs while also caring for our environment.
Council has an internal Cleaner Production team that undertook investigations to identify an industry-based project with a product/service council purchase. Printing services were chosen as a commonly used product across council and in the community, where improved practices can have strong environmental outcomes.
Project detail
To provide a base environmental standard for printing services Waitakere City Council worked with the local printing industry and stakeholders to jointly develop a Preferred Supplier Assessment Sheet. In assessing the preferred environmental outcomes council worked with this stakeholder group and undertook a technical assessment of the industry to ensure that the goals of the project were feasible.
The Preferred Supplier Assessment Sheet initially requests a 'process flow diagram' of all business inputs, outputs and processes. The comprehensive assessment also asks suppliers a series of yes/no questions, many requiring additional information about the printer's environmental impacts. This questionnaire looks at the printer's environmental policies, product environmental improvements, operational improvements to environmental performance, material storage and handling, input changes for preferred outcomes and material inputs and wastes.
Key challenges
The main challenge identified by Waitakere City Council with an industry-based project such as the printing industry was the length of time required for industry to "buy into" the project and the time taken for changes to be implemented. The print project created strong links with the local printing industry, especially the council's preferred printers, but uptake by the rest of the industry in New Zealand was found to be relatively slow.
From the print companies' perspective, they indicated there was little demand for recycled paper and vegetable-based inks throughout New Zealand. Therefore, the change is not being led by market demand and print companies are not necessarily actively promoting the change in product manufacture.
Council has found it challenging to measure the environmental outcomes of the project, such as the amount of material that is now being printed on recycled paper using mineral-free inks. This is seen a key driver to future green procurement work, as well as the results feeding into council's sustainability reporting initiative. The major barrier to quantifying impacts comes from the wide choice of suppliers. The purchasing system is not currently set up to track purchasing at this level of detail and as such the only way to do so currently would be a survey of council's suppliers.
Outcomes of Project
Benefits that have been identified from the project include:
- A local industry group offering environmentally preferable services was developed.
- The process has provided a source of environmentally preferable printers for council. Council now uses mineral oil-free (vegetable-based) inks and elementary or total chlorine free paper recycled paper.
- It is suggested that staff now have confidence that the printing firms listed on council's Preferred Suppliers List are aware about their impact on the environment and staff and are actively working to reduce those impacts.
- Council allows a premium to be paid for these products, as the products support council's Eco-city vision and are generating new local environmentally preferable markets.
The project was reviewed in 2002 through interviews with council's preferred printers and external printers. This found that progressive changes had occurred in some print companies through improved production processes, reduction in hazardous substances and the creation of healthier workplaces. Almost all preferred suppliers, for example, were found to be offering mineral-free ink and have developed an environmental policy, whereas no external printers suppliers had either (refer to the Review of the Cleaner Production Printing Project 2002).
Outcomes of the print industry project were presented to staff, including an overview of the impacts of the printing industry and how the industry can change and improve its practices. Print Purchasing Guidelines were produced for staff to refer to that provided background information as well as practical information for consideration when purchasing print product. Staff were also reminded about this accomplishment in sustainable purchasing at recent staff conferences as part of council's corporate sustainability programme training.
Council also produced Guidelines for Green Print Purchasing for local business that explain the environmentally preferable options available when printing documents. These include both internal office printing and working with print suppliers.
To ensure the community is aware of the steps undertaken by council, all print material includes the information that it is "printed on recycled paper using mineral free oils".
For more information on the printing industry project and to access resources such as the Guidelines for Green Print Purchasing see the Printing Industry Project page on the Waitakere City Council website.
