Guidebook for Sustainable Purchasing Released

business/economics

Last Updated: May 17th, 2007 - 10:00:42

Guidebook for Sustainable Purchasing Released
By greenbiz.com
Mar 14, 2007

VANCOUVER, B.C., Mar. 14, 2007 -- The Sustainability Purchasing Network has released their "Guide to the Business Case and Benefits of Sustainability Purchasing," a one-stop resource that helps business, non-profit, and government organizations improve environmental and social conditions through purchasing, develop better relationships with suppliers, reduce costs, and ultimately build a more sustainable economy.

According to Coro Strandberg, one of the study's authors and a co-founder of the Network, there is no other source of information publicly available that covers both social purchasing and ethical and environmental sourcing in one place. "We took our lead in developing this guide by our own experience researching the subject," she says. "We found different pieces in different places, but nowhere did we find a comprehensive discussion that spoke to why organizations should move toward sustainability purchasing, as opposed to how to do it."

Sustainability purchasing is a management process used to give preference to suppliers of goods and services that demonstrate positive social and environmental impacts. It entails looking at what products are made of, where they have come from, who has made them, and how they will be disposed of at the end of their life -- even considering whether the purchase needs to be made at all.

This resource tool is intended for use as a guidance document for organizations that are thinking about, or are in the process of, developing an internal business case for sustainability purchasing. It contains 80-plus examples and case studies to help them tailor their sustainability purchasing programs to their unique circumstances and priorities, and illustrates how to manage and leverage the costs.

"It is clear that the organizations featured in the business case guide have influenced others -- and been influenced by -- their commitment to sustainability purchasing," says Strandberg. "By increasing the number of participants throughout the supply chain that are utilizing sustainability purchasing programs, we'll create a more sustainable economy overall."

The guidebook is available for free download from BuySmartBC.com.

Source: http://greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=34720