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IT'S EASY BEING GREEN!
Green Purchasing is important. It's important because purchasers yield a great influence over the future of the planet with every buying decision they make - and because every purchase has a hidden cost on the environment.
A product does not necessarily have a low carbon footprint just because it is "organic" or "eco-friendly" when used, does not mean that it's production process was "eco-friendly".
The hope is that SEPUSA will help you understand the different aspects of green purchasing and how you can go about being green.
GREENWASH!
Greenwashing is the deceptive use of green PR or green marketing in order to promote a misleading perception that a company's policies or products are environmentally friendly.
The term is generally used when significantly more money or time has been spent advertising being green, rather than spending resources on environmentally sound practices. This is often portrayed by changing the name or label of a product to evoke the natural environment or nature-for example, putting an image of a forest on a bottle containing harmful chemicals.
SEPUSA PRESS RELEASE
EIGHT STEPS TO GREEN PROCUREMENT
This section outlines an eight-step process that an organization can use to go green.!
1. Commit to Being Green
Make Green a corporate mandate and create a green policy. This should come from the top.
2. Identify Your Needs
Specify that green is a top priority. Your entire contract should be littered with green terminology.
3. Develop Green Specifications and Standards
The first step is to develop green specifications and standards for every product you buy.
4. Establish Green Selection Criteria and Their Impact on Decisions
Don't be afraid to show preferences to manufacturers and distributors who actively advance environmental conservation practices.
5. Focus on Identifying Products and Services which are Green
Generally speaking, if a supplier isn't green, or making an effort to go green, that supplier should not even be invited to bid.
6. Include Green Performance Clauses in Every Contract
Be sure to incorporate clauses into every contract that allow you to enforce penalties or terminate the contract if the supplier does not meet the minimum green and sustainability requirements.
7. Communicate and Inform
Offer your buyers training so that they can tell the difference from the products that are truly green from those that are coated in greenwashing.
8. Make it Easy
People like easy. If you make purchasing green easy, it will happen naturally (and, done right, save you a lot of gr$$n).
