Paints - Wellington
City Council
Summary
Council has a preferred supplier for paint who are members of the Environmental Choice Programme. The Environmental Choice Programme is an environmental labelling scheme aimed at identifying products for consumers that have the least adverse environmental impact.
Key drivers
Council architects have a long-standing relationship with a local paint supplier. The supplier's recent qualification for the Environmental Choice program provided assurance to council of their environmental credentials and reaffirmed the supplier choice.
Project detail
The council is a high volume user of paints and require service, responsiveness and assurance about the quality of the product. Council is supportive of the preferred supplier for paint as their products have no odour and are water-based paints with reduced levels of toxic solvents. An additional benefit is that council's preferred supplier are Wellington based which means colour matching and mixing and delivery can be done promptly.
There are many and varied projects requiring the use of paints and the preferred supplier is always specified in the Schedule of Requirements. For all projects the council architects are involved and this link ensures that the preferred supplier is specified any plans.
Key challenges
Occasionally contractors have existing relationships with other suppliers and advise council that they can get the same quality of product cheaper. Although no set price premium is defined, it is understood by staff that there would have to be significant financial savings or other benefits to warrant council to agree to this kind of exception.
Outcomes of project
The Environmental Choice Programme assists council to feel confident of the environmental credentials of the supplier. The environmental benefits have not been further quantified.
