University Procurement Strategy Group 29 February 2008 Document UPSC/07/16 Agenda item 7
Environmental and Sustainable Procurement Policy – V2
The University aims to ensure that its procurement activities meet the diverse needs of students,
staff, the economy and society both now and in the future, and it will achieve this through:1. Exploring opportunities for reuse and recycling of materials, and reduction of consumption, as
appropriate.
2. Minimising the environmental impact of the procurement process wherever possible, including
reductions in transport, deliveries and packaging.
3. Using local suppliers where appropriate, when added value can be demonstrated.
4. Working with key suppliers to reduce environmental risk and spread sustainability
improvements through the supply chain. This will include:
Avoiding products with particularly harmful substances

Preferential procurement for products with high recycled content, that are
biodegradable or are Fairly Traded wherever possible

Buying energy efficient products wherever possible

Buying products using recognised labelling schemes

Encouraging suppliers to adopt environmentally sensitive policies and procedures, and
to achieve environmental credentials

Monitoring supplier performance against environmental Key Performance Indicators
wherever possible.
5. Ensuring that environmental criteria are, as far as legally practicable, considered in the
contract award process.
6. An emphasis on whole life costing and environmental impact for any goods and services to be
purchased, including

operating costs including energy, water usage and maintenance

end of life processes including decommissioning and disposal.
7. Complying with all relevant environmental legislation.
8. Educating both internal buyers and suppliers concerning the University's sustainable
objectives, which include minimising waste, preserving natural resources, reducing the
University’s carbon footprint and promoting resource efficiency.
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University Procurement Strategy Group 29 February 2008 Document UPSC/07/16 Agenda item 7
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Environmental and Sustainable Procurement Policy
Outline of scope and issues
Version 3: 14th February 2008
The University aims to ensure that its procurement activities meet the diverse needs of students,
staff, the economy and society both now and in the future, and it will achieve this through:1. Exploring opportunities for reuse and recycling of materials, and reduction of consumption, as
appropriate.

Where items are needed for a short time period only it may make more economic and environmental
sense to lease rather than purchase the item and then ‘give it back’.

Can spare stock, eg furniture, in one department be transferred for use by another department, hence
reducing the need to buy these items?
o Can Estates manage an inventory and store any spare stock?
o The incentive for departments to share would be the chance to benefit from other items,
and to avoid having to pay for disposal
o
It seems like genuinely redundant items be safely given to charity (eg ‘Green works’,
‘freecycle’, Emmaus), whilst avoiding any legal liabilities.

Can high-cost, low-use items be bought by a number of departments and shared, rather than purchased
by each department (eg laminators, photocopiers etc)?
o How would this be managed, re. budgets, conflicting needs, communication between
departments etc?
o Can a rationalisation of resource requirements be tied in with the proposed changes to
faculty structure? Will there be dedicated faculty offices where such items could be housed?
o Can the same principle be used with non-University organisations/businesses; low-use
vehicles shared by a number of local HE institutions, for example?

Can items be bought that can be economically re-furbished/upgraded instead of disposed of, e.g.
upholstering office chairs, upgrading computers?
o How can this be made more economical; higher initial cost but longer warranty?
o Can the ability for items to be refurbishable be a requirement when buying items, and part
of the after-sales service?
o Requires a ‘memory’ longer than many people’s term of office; in X year’s time will anyone
remember that a product is to be refurbished, as opposed to replaced, and where it was
purchased from?
o Items refurbished on site require workplace(s) and labour
2. Minimising the environmental impact of the procurement process wherever possible, including
reductions in transport, deliveries and packaging

Instead of travelling to see suppliers etc. if possible use video or tele-conferences instead.

Can we have fewer but larger deliveries; e.g. two instead of the current five stationery deliveries a
week?
o Would require a degree of re-education, as currently people can order their items a day or
two before they needed them
o Response to the move could be mixed, as people may expect a reduction in service level.
This could be felt more acutely as and when the stores reduces its storage of stationery.
Would need to ensure people didn’t circumvent the system by buying locally instead.
o Would need to ensure this did not lead to over-stocking; people fill up cupboards to ensure
they don’t run out
University Procurement Strategy Group 29 February 2008 Document UPSC/07/16 Agenda item 7
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o
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Office Depot would support this move, combined with a move towards electronic ordering,
and offer a discount on current prices.
May require more ‘local’ storage space at point of use.
Packaging; should we insist on use of recycled/low environmental impact materials wherever possible,
or should this be a preference only?
o We should aim for packaging that is either returned to the supplier and re-used, or that we
can recycle ourselves such as cardboard, as that as little packaging as practically possible is
used
o Do we have contract management mechanisms or resources for feeding back to supplier’s
excessive packaging against individual deliveries, and ensuring such feedback is acted
upon?
3. Where added value can be demonstrated using local suppliers where appropriate.

Buying local can add value, especially for food or items that need maintenance or when looking for
quick response time for services.
4. Working with key suppliers to reduce environmental risk and spread sustainability
improvements through the supply chain. This will include:












Avoiding products with particularly harmful substances
Preferential procurement for products with high recycled content, that are
biodegradable or are Fairly Traded wherever possible
Buying energy efficient products wherever possible
Buying products using recognised labelling schemes
Encouraging suppliers to adopt environmentally sensitive policies and procedures, to
achieve environmental credentials and to commit to continual improvement
Monitoring supplier performance against environmental Key Performance Indicators
wherever possible.
Do we insist that all or most suppliers – at least where environmental factors are relevant - have or are
working towards ISO14001 or equivalent accreditation?
 This may be feasible for new suppliers but can we insist on it for current suppliers, who may be
providing best Value for Money?
 Do we ask for a supplier environmental policy? If so what should be on it? - Reduction of
energy use? Increased use of recycling? Reduction in pollution? etc.
 What happens if a sole supplier of critical research equipment does not meet our criteria?
Do we want different levels of environmental compliance depending on the degree of environmental
(and hence reputational) risk? It makes sense to prioritise first on high risk, high spend procurement.
What level of second-level (supplier’s suppliers) environmental compliance is it feasible to expect?
How would supplier’s environmental credentials be monitored?
Is there a base level beneath which we should exclude suppliers from the tender process, e.g. recent
prosecution for breaking environmental legislation?
What level of non-financial support can CPU/the University offer to suppliers seeking to
create/implement an environmental policy?
Do we want to give preferential status to socially responsible (not just environmentally responsible)
suppliers, eg worker’s cooperatives?
University Procurement Strategy Group 29 February 2008 Document UPSC/07/16 Agenda item 7
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5. Ensuring that environmental criteria are, as far as legally practicable, considered in the
contract award process.



What weighting do we give to positive environmental credentials of a potential supplier in a tender
exercise, compared to other factors such as price, previous experience etc.?
Do we need definite figures (£ and/or %) to clarify what the University is prepared to pay for a more
environmentally-friendly open? It is estimated, for example, that buying electricity from a green source
will add £50K/year; who makes the decision that this is money well spent? Other things being equal,
how do we evaluate the ‘added value’ from a greener option?
Need to be clear what we can and cannot do legally with respect to goods/services procured through
the EC process; environmental considerations can only be used where advertised in advance, and
shown to be relevant to the contract?
6. An emphasis on whole life costing for any goods and services to be purchased, including: operating costs including energy, water usage and maintenance
 end of life costs including decommissioning and disposal





Whilst whole life costing saves money over time, initially the costs, for low energy light bulbs for
example, may be higher, and hence there may be resistance to their introduction.
Whole life costing can be useful in creating business cases for replacing items (or not)
Should we be incorporating WEEE requirements into tender specifications, whereby suppliers in
appropriate circumstances are obliged to dispose of old items that they are replacing?
We need to know what companies offering to dispose of waste products are doing with them
Product owners are unlikely to be knowledgeable enough to assess an item’s operating and end of life
costs; is it their responsibility?
7. Complying with all relevant environmental legislation.

Central Procurement Unit will be able to offer advice on generic environmental legislation, whilst
product-owners should be up-to-date on legislation concerning their specific area.
8. Educating internal buyers concerning the University's sustainable objectives, which include
minimising waste, preserving natural resources, reducing the University’s carbon footprint and
promoting resource efficiency.

The Efficiency Management Model (EMM) will be used to monitor University sustainable procurement
‘savings’. Central Procurement will aim for sustainability targets, eg a 5% year on year increase.

How to ensure a degree of compliance with a University Environmental Procurement strategy across the
largely autonomous university departments, especially in instances where budgets are being stretched?
Dan Satterthwaite