Cleaner production starts with cleaner procurement
By improving your purchasing, your resource use and waste output will be reduced. Buying recycled materials can reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.
Improve purchasing to...
Reduce waste production
- Match package quantities to your batch sizes to avoid over ordering of raw materials.
- Investigate whether a different raw material would produce less waste.
- Set environmental standards for your suppliers, their products and services, and request substantiation of their claims. There should be no premium for this.
- Check for damaged or tainted goods when received as these are a source of costly waste.
- Ask your suppliers to accept their empty drums in return for full ones.
Reward waste minimisation
- Purchase recycled materials where possible, if you do not 'buy recycled', you're not recycling.
- Give preference to products that are designed for long life, are reusable or recyclable, and are made and packaged with minimum material.
- Consider service contracts with a definable process outcome (for example, a clean, safe, efficient cooling tower) rather than chemical inputs regardless of effect.
- Ask your supplier to help you reduce chemical usage, and share the savings.
- Produce efficiency benchmarks for the use of raw materials with the help of your suppliers.
- Avoid buying new products or services, which will increase the risk to your business.
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