Sustainable Purchasing
Aberdeen City Council adopted a Sustainable Purchasing Policy in February 2001.
The Council is a major purchaser in the north east of Scotland. The Policy is designed to address the full range of concerns relating to the social, economic and environmental impacts of goods and services purchased by the City Council.
A four point action plan has been developed to implement the policy.
The actions are:
- Establish a corporate group to move the Policy forward
- Raise awareness of the Policy amongst relevant Council staff and suppliers
- Initiate a number of pilot sustainable purchasing projects (paper, timber and printer toner cartridges)
- Develop a longer term Sustainable Purchasing Strategy
Forests are an essential and vital part of the Earth's biodiversity. They are also a very important economic and social resource. In order to ensure that timber is legal and sustainable, independent, third party verification has been developed by a number of organisations, including the Forest Stewardship Council. This ensures that the timber produced is managed responsibly from where it is grown all the way to where it is used. Certification is seen as the best available option to ensure that local authorities do not contribute to the illegal destruction of the world’s forests.
Canny Buyer
“Using Green Purchasing in Your Business”
Sustainable procurement aims to reduce impacts on the Earth and its people and can lead to direct business benefits such as reduced costs, less waste, less raw materials and less energy consumption.
Adopting sustainable procurement will both safeguard your reputation and lead to an increased market share and is a key element of becoming a socially responsible organisation.
Mike Cartwright, regional trade manager with B & Q in Scotland, has remarked that, "Being seen as an organisation with a strong commitment to sustainable procurement has without doubt enhanced B & Q's reputation and led to the significant expansion of our business."
The Canny Buyer website provides you with a valuable reference guide to sustainable purchasing. It also includes a set of case studies and a downloadable pocket guide.
A set of case studies and a pocket file have been produced to provide organisations with information on how to implement sustainable procurement. These can be viewed here:
The Canny Buyer: A Set of Case Studies in Sustainable Procurement in Scotland
The Pocket File on Canny Buying: A Route to Sustainable Procurement
Timber and Timber Products
Aberdeen City Council has made a commitment to use timber from certified sustainable sources. Our target is to ensure that by 2012 all timber and timber products bought by the Council are from approved sustainable sources. A study was undertaken by the Council in 2005 to discover how close we are to achieving this target. It concluded that Aberdeen City Council has been pro-active in implementing its policy - in several areas almost full certification had been achieved. Overall for non- construction purchases 52% of timber purchased is from acceptable sources of which 27% is from certified sources and 19% is recycled. Work continues to ensure all timber and timber products comply with our target. A copy of the full report is available to TimberAudit2005. The Council have also registered its forest at Hazlehead Woods as FSC timber.
Contact
Andrew Win
Sustainable Development Officer
Telephone: 01224 814611
Email: andrewwin@aberdeencity.gov.uk
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