Green Developments

Green procurement is becoming an integral part of private procurement policies.

Consumers Goods Company Proctor & Gamble (P&G) is working along with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create tools to optimize its supply chain and manufacturing process.

Speaking on the collaboration, Stefano Zenezini, a VP of product supply at P&G, said that the aim of the collaboration is to develop modelling tools that will assess future product design, material sourcing and manufacturing options. "This is a tremendous opportunity for us to be at the leading edge of developing tools to support the entire company’s effort to improve the sustainability of our products and our operations," she added. The collaboration will not only help the supply chain, but also the company's procurement services.

This collaboration is the result of the growing trend of green procurement. The trend involves a company optimizing their procurement policies to source good and services that will be environmentally friendly.

Also known as Green or Environmental Purchasing, green procurement is derived from pollution prevention principles. Green procurement programmes can comprise renewable energy, recycled office products, or even setting the environmental friendly policies that suppliers are required to follow.

With more companies going green, green procurement services are becoming an essential part of a company's supply chain process. There are many benefits and advantages that a company can receive from green procurement programme:

•    Programmes can complement business goals. Institutions with sustainability plans can receive a number of benefits in terms of cost reduction and liability expenditure.

•    Green products are considered to be less expensive and can lead to more savings.

•    Delivering large orders of green products can result in reduction of carbon footprints and inventory costs.

•    Recycled packaging material can also lead to a decrease in manufacturing and disposal costs. Using recycled material can also lead to less landfill usage and disposal fees.

•    Use of the internet has also become a factor in procurement services. Electronic automation of the spending process can reduce time, costs, and paperwork.

Green Purchasing can not only benefit companies, it can also benefit countries. There is a growing realization that international procurement services can significantly impact national sustainability plans. This has lead to many countries creating their own procurement policies. One example is Britain. The Greater London Authority published a sustainable procurement policy in 2008. The policy was a promise of providing advantages to companies that demonstrated a commitment to sustainable procurement concerns.

As one can see, going green can lead to innumerable benefits.