Our sustainable purchasing policy

All organisations have an impact on the environment through their purchasing practices - both in buying goods and in procuring services though contracts. In recognition of this, our executive approved an environmental purchasing policy in October 2005.

This sets out a series of principles to be adopted in procurement, including:

  • Obtaining value for money and including whole life costings
  • cutting waste and maximising re-use and recycling
  • reducing energy use and monitoring impact on climate change
  • avoiding habitat destruction and sourcing wood products from sustainable sources 
  • tackling pollution.

Mayor of London's Green Procurement Code

We've signed up to the Mayor of London's Green Procurement Code, which commits us to reducing the effects of our activities on the environment. You can find more about the code at www.greenprocurementcode.co.uk.

Annual audit of our recycled purchases

As part of our commitment to sustainable procurement, we conduct an annual audit of recycled purchases.  This audit is carried out by the capital's waste partnership London Remade. They assess the impact on the environment of companies switching to buying recycled.

In 2008/09

  • We purchased 34% of our stationery supplies from the environmental range of our corporate contract
  • 96% of the white A4 paper we bought was of an 80% recycled content or higher
  • We used 2,360 tonnes of recycled aggregate to fill potholes reducing the demand for raw materials
  • 56% of our metered electricity was from a renewable resource or "green energy."

In addition, we introduced environmental requirements into our standard terms and conditions for contractors, and required larger contractors to submit data on their CO2 emissions.


In 2007/08

In 2007/08, a total of £622,000 was spent on recycled products, diverting some 2,000 tonnes of waste from landfill. This compares to a spend of £695,000 in 2006/07 and £455,000 in 2005/06.

As well as buying recycled products, we are also working with London Remade to cut back on our waste and recycle more.

For more information about our environmental policies and plans, email envpolicy@wandsworth.gov.uk.

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